


You Can't Choose Who You Fall In Love With (oh wait, I guess you can)

by writingonpostcards



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Reality Show, F/M, Getting Together, M/M, POV Alternating, Reality TV, Slow Build, dating show, other characters who don't have a large role
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-09
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-03-17 02:28:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 44,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3511835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingonpostcards/pseuds/writingonpostcards
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dating show AU that was meant to be fluff but then wasn't. </p><p>
  <em>"I came on this show because my mother has always wanted to see me fall in love and get married. Her and dad have this really great relationship you know, and she wants that for me. But things just haven’t been working the normal way I guess." Stiles shrugs like he’s making light of the situation, but Derek senses there’s more to the story.</em>
</p><p>There is. But Derek’s got more than one reason for doing this show as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

“Hiya mum.” Stiles swings into the living room of his parents house, the house where he grew up, and watches his mother sit up straighter on the couch. “Bought you a new book.”

“Stiles.” She smiles up at him and beckons him over, “You didn’t have to do that.” She gives him a kiss on both cheeks and taps his nose with a thin finger.

“I know, but you were almost finished the Atwood when I came over last and I remember you talking about the new Atkinson novel and I get a discount from work anyway, so...” Stiles shrugs and sits next to her on the couch, putting the book on the coffee table next to her tea.

“Thank you.” Stiles smiles at his mother and looks her over, trying not to be obvious about it.

She’s looking remarkably healthy for someone with untreatable cancer. Which brings Stiles to the main reason for his visit.

“So, here’s the thing.” He takes a deep breath and clasps his hands in his lap so he doesn’t do something drastic like hit her with them accidentally. “I got accepted for the show.” He watches as his mother’s eyes go from narrowed in confusion to wide in surprise and a sort of hopeful happiness.

“They picked you? Oh Stiles, that’s wonderful.” She reaches out to pull him against her in a hug and laughs. He can feel it ruffling his hair and laughs with her. “How are you feeling about it?”

“Well, kinda nervous actually. I really want this to work you know? For you.” When Stiles’ mother raises an eyebrow at him he ducks his head. “And me. I want it for myself to. You know that mum.”

“Of course I do. I just don’t want you to forget that while you’re at that house doing this.”

“I think if anything I’m more likely to forget about you. Surrounded by dozens of probably _very_ attractive men and all.”

“Stiles!” She smacks him lightly on the back of his head. Stiles rubs at the spot and rolls his eyes at her. 

“You know I’m just joking.”

“Sure. You are now. But just wait until you get there and you _are_ surrounded by attractive men. You probably will forget all about your old ma’. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Stiles smiles fondly at her and then leans back against the couch and flops his head onto her shoulder.

“I have to move in next week.” His mother hums and he feels it reverberate through his skull. “It feels kind of soon. I’m not sure I’m ready.”

“Not ready for what Stiles?”

“Leaving you.” He tells her honestly. It’s the only downside of this endeavour. Having to be separated from his family and friends for months. Thankfully, due to his situation, they’re allowing him regular contact, which isn’t normally the case. But since his story is such a big part of why he even got onto the show in the first place, the creators decided they couldn’t really deny him.

“Oh honey,” she kisses the top of his head and he closes his eyes and listens to her voice sooth him like it has since he was a kid. “You’ve known this was going to happen since before you even made Scott record that audition tape with you.” Stiles frowns. “It’s ok to miss me. I’m going to miss you too. But don’t let that get in the way of you enjoying this experience.”

Stiles sighs and opens his eyes to see his mother looking down at him. “I won’t.”

“Good. Now get off me so I can make some more tea. It’s gotten cold sitting here while I talk to you.”

\---

_“I’ve got to be honest with you Stiles, your reason for wanting to be the front-runner for our show is incredibly interesting and would be something viewers would love, but...” The red-head Lydia, one of the show’s co-creators, takes the time to steeple her fingers together and lowers her brows to look seriously at Stiles, “This show would have to, and I realise this sounds very crass,_ exploit _the story. Are you sure you’re ok with that? You and your mother both?”_

_Stiles swallows, suddenly nervous under her gaze in a way he hasn’t been through any of the previous interviews to get to where he is now. He has given himself enough time to think this decision over, spent sleepless nights making lists of pros and cons, debating it with himself and even roping Scott in to play devil’s advocate. But he’s certain about this. Certain in the same way he knows his mother has cancer and is going to die within the next two years._

_“We’re ok with it. I know I’ve said it to you guys before, but this is something I want to do wholeheartedly. And I understand the format of these shows. I did a lot of research before even considering making an audition tape. This is what I want and I am prepared to accept all the strings that will go with it.” He maintains eye contact with Lydia as he talks, making sure she accepts what he’s saying._

_It’s been one of his mother’s greatest dreams to see Stiles fall in love and get married to that one person who makes him happier than he’s ever been, compliments him, and encourages him to be true to himself. But he hasn’t found anyone like that yet and his time is limited. Which is why he auditioned to be the bachelor in a reality tv show when he barely watches anything from the genre._

_“Ok.” Lydia says slowly, lowering her hands to spread them flat on the table. She looks to her right at the twins who co-created the show with her – Aiden and Ethan. They were the ones who did the first and second rounds of interviews and Stiles, although finding their muscles intimidating at first, could now imagine being comfortable around them in time. Indeed, if he gets this thing, he’ll have to spend time with them filming._

_Aiden and Ethan perhaps have twin telepathy because they nod at Lydia simultaneously and then turn to smile at Stiles, Ethan perhaps more so than Aiden._

_“Normally we’d tell you that that’s everything on your part and to go home and await a call within the next few days,” Aiden begins, and then Ethan continues, “but you’ve stood out to us from the beginning and we are already looking forward to seeing how the show plays out with you at the wheel.”_

_Stiles sucks in a breath and digs his fingers into his thighs. “Are you- are you saying that?” He can’t get it out, scared he’s reading into this wrong._

_“We want you to be our bachelor Stiles.” Lydia smiles at him, the warmest he’s seen from her all day._

_“Really? You guys are 100% sure?”_

_All three nod in unison._

_“Wow. Wow. Thank you so much, I-“ Stiles feels himself tearing up and quickly wipes at his eyes. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just, you know, this is going to mean the world to my mum and I just,” he pauses and takes a deep breath, blowing it out through a wide open mouth. “Wow. Thank you.”_

_“You’re welcome.” Lydia says._

_He goes home that evening with a stack of documents to sign, confidentiality agreements and insurance forms, as well as information about the show itself and a vague timetable of events and map of the house he’ll be staying in._

_Stiles doesn’t go to sleep that night. Just wanders around his house, smiling to himself, laughing, and yes, crying a little bit too._

_He’s optimistic and so, so happy that he was chosen. He has a real chance now of making his mum’s dream into a reality. He’s going into this with an open mind and an open heart and it’s all going to be amazing and wonderful._

\---

Laura is at the head of Derek’s bed, sitting cross-legged and leaning against the headboard.

“Laura, you know as well as I do how these shows work. Peter’s been producing that fashion show as long as we’ve been alive.” Derek throws another pair of jeans into his open suitcase at the foot of his bed.

“That doesn’t mean that this is going to be easy or something Derek. Don’t get too cocky.”

“I think ‘cocky’ might be an advantage in this situation.” Derek smiles scandalously over at Laura.

Laura levels the infamous Hale death glare at him.

“Ok, I’m sorry.” Derek relents, taking the time to fold his collection of on-the-tight-side Henleys. “I was just trying to lighten the situation.”

Laura lets the glare drop and then sighs, eyes watering slightly as she rests her hands over her swollen stomach. “I know you were Der, it’s just, it’s such a big thing you’re doing for me, and I just don’t want you, I don’t know, getting hurt or, or, _frustrated_ if things don’t go well.”

Derek goes to sit by his sister, tucking her hair behind her ear and then leaving a hand on her shoulder.

“Laura,” he begins softly, “I know that things are crappy with Kyle gone and that-“ Derek stops, unsure of how to continue. Laura just looks down at her hands. “This may sound pretentious of me but... I’m smart, I’m respectful, I know how to work the show to my advantage, I’ve been told by everyone from grocery store clerks to actual agents that I could easily be a model, and perhaps most importantly, I have a really good reason to be doing this.”

Laura inhales deeply through her nose and looks up at Derek.

“Ok?” He asks, wanting to make sure she’s alright.

She nods at him and he stands up to continue folding his shirts.

“You should pack more of the green ones, and also your Brown University hoodie.” Derek raises his eyebrows questioningly at her. “Green will make your eyes pop and the hoodie makes you look more approachable, younger, and also says that you were intelligent enough to get into Brown. Just don’t wear it all the time. Actually, maybe save it for a bit later when you need a new talking point or something, adds another layer to your personality."

“What?” Laura says, when she notices Derek staring at her, “I watch more reality shows than you do. Just imparting some more wisdom onto my baby brother.”

Derek shakes his head but takes his hoodie off its hanger and folds it into the bottom of his suitcase.

\---

_After the service Derek is the one to drive Laura back to the house she and Kyle had bought only 5 months earlier. The boxes are all unpacked but there are still bits of furniture, new from Ikea for the extra room, to be assembled and used and made part of the house._

_The baby’s room had only just been given its first coat of paint._

_“I can’t do this Derek!” Laura sobs against her brother’s chest, sitting hunched on the couch in the living room. “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t and it’s not that I can’t actually it’s just,” she’s pulling in big gulps of air, some of which get stuck halfway down her throat and come back out in heaving hiccups. Derek just rubs circles onto her back and lets her clench his shirt between her shaking fingers._

_“My job Derek! I quit my- I don’t have it anymore, I quit my job because he’d gotten a promotion and I had lots saved and I was going to be this stay-at-home mum and then maybe when our kid was – Oh god. Our kid! Derek! The baby. It’s not going to have a dad now and, and, and, and-“ Derek makes shushing noises and keeps the circles going on Laura’s back._

_She sobs more, and hiccups, and then eventually her fingers stop clutching so desperately at Derek’s shirt and he can feel the wet patches on his shirt getting dryer, not moist with more tears, and he knows she’s ready to hear someone else talk now._

_“Laura, I love you, and I love this baby you’re going to have. I am going to help support you as long as you need. You don’t need to worry about anything. I’m going to be here, and we will get through this together. You and me, and our parents, and Cora, and all of our friends.” He feels Laura shaking her head against his chest. “Hey, hey now, Laura. Look at me.”_

_It takes almost a minute but she does eventually raise her head and her red rimmed eyes look unblinkingly at Derek’s as if hoping to find all the answers there._

_“Yes. We are going to get through this.”_

_“We are going to get through this.” She whispers softly to Derek before kissing him on the cheek and laying her head back down against his chest and falling quickly asleep._

_Laura sells the house and returns some of the new unmade furniture and moves in with Derek to his apartment. It’s always been too big for him anyway, with 2 bedrooms and a study. The family help them rearrange the furniture so it’s 3 bedrooms – Derek combines the study with his bedroom, Laura gets the second room, and the study becomes the nursery._

_Laura sometimes wakes up sobbing and Derek sometimes sits with her until she falls back asleep, or he makes her tea and leaves it for her on her bedside table._

_Gradually those nights disappear altogether and though Derek can tell Laura still misses her late husband - will do so, he’s sure, until she dies - she’s letting herself look forward to motherhood. She finds out the sex of the baby – a girl – and jokes around with Derek about baby names and buying her all blue clothes to confuse passersby._

_Laura gets even more excited when Derek tells her he’s auditioning to be a contestant in a reality dating show. It’s not glamorous, but Laura is still without a job and Derek wants to make more than he already is, so that he’s sure she and the baby are comfortable with money to spare._

_Laura is a reality show guru and helps prepare Derek for his rounds of interviews and badgers him to increase his work-out regime. Even before Derek finds out he’s chosen to be one of the 12 contestants he was happy to have gone for it at all, because it was giving Laura something to focus on that wasn’t Kyle’s passing._

_The only sad thing was that Derek was going to have to leave her while the show was being filmed. Anywhere from a few weeks to months depending on how well he did and whether the mystery bachelor liked him. And he wanted to stay on longer, because the more time he spent there, the larger the payment. The idea of coming out of the show with some kind of relationship wasn’t even really a factor, but Derek wasn’t kidding himself that it wasn’t a distinct possibility. And maybe after years of not being a serious relationship, Derek should admit that he wasn’t going on the show just for Laura and the baby’s sake._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hey, welcome to the story. Dating shows is one of my favourite tropes, but there aren’t too many out there and it’s mainly lots of shorter ones. So I was like, ‘you know what? I’m just going to write my own’.
> 
> I thought it was going to be super funny, and light, and everyone would be sarcastic and witty and in touch with pop-culture, and people would be shirtless all the time and get into ridiculous situations.
> 
> But then I got other ideas, like ‘hey, why doesn’t Stiles go on the show because his mum is dying and she’s always wanted to see him get married’ and ‘hey, why doesn’t Derek agree to exploit himself on tv to get money so Laura and her partner can afford IVF’ (that storyline changed a little bit you will have noticed).
> 
> And so what you have just read is clearly not the light-hearted, comedic romp I thought a dating show au was going to be, but hopefully you’ll enjoy this one just as much as something like that. I myself think it’s going to get interesting (I already have a bunch of things I want to happen).
> 
> So hopefully you’ll stick with me as I write this thing and we can share in the adventure together.


	2. Moving In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles moves into the house.

“You know, you really didn’t have to drive me up Scott.”

“You know, you really didn’t have to tell me that for the 50th time Stiles.”

Scott turns to him from the driver’s seat and pokes his tongue out.

“Ok well, eyes on the road at least if you’re being my chauffeur.”

“Dude, not your chauffeur. Just a friend. You know I’m not going to see you for 3 months right? That’s almost-“

“Almost as long as when you went backpacking in South America and when you got back I was like a Scott-limpet for weeks. Yes, I feel like we’ve had this conversation before.”

“That’s because we have. Every day since you got accepted on the show. But my point is, got to cram in as much Scott and Stiles time as I can before you get distracted by finding the love of your life.”

Scott very pointedly takes his eyes off the road again but this time doesn’t stick his tongue out, instead offering Stiles a warm smile. 

He smiles back. Just over a week ago he found out he was going to be the bachelor on a dating show. Not how Stiles pictured finding ‘the one’ but extraneous circumstances and all.

So around packing and re-packing (and then packing again), Stiles had tried to spend as much time this past week with his parents before he goes off to film. Mostly that meant eating dinners with them and playing lots of board games, but he also handed the managerial reigns of his bookshop over early so he could come over during the day and chat with his mother and actually help to cook all the dinners he was eating there.

So in hindsight, maybe Scott had lucked out a little bit on spending time with him. But he wasn’t the one with T-minus 2 years to his death so Stiles doesn’t feel totally bad about it. Besides, he’d called his friend enough worrying about what to pack _(‘is it douche-y of me to take my uni sweatshirt?’ ‘hey do you think I need more than one pair of swimming trunks?’ ‘Scott which shoes are cooler, the red converse or the plaid ones?’)._ And they always ended up chatting afterwards.

Scott was a very supportive best friend and would always reply with some variant of _‘they’re there to win you over, not you them, just be yourself’_. Or something like that. Stiles possibly should have remembered it by now, could have tattooed it on his arm as a mantra for when he’s in the house by himself without Scott or his family.

And then it hits him. He’s going to be filming this show for 3 months. 3 months. That’s one whole eighth of his mother’s estimated remaining time. What a fucking idiotic decision to do this show.

“Hey Stiles?” 

He jerks his head away from where it was pressed against the window. He must have spaced out a little bit.

“Looks like you’re worried.”

“I’m not worried.” Stiles shrugs but he thinks his voice came out a little too strained for that.

Scott just raises his eyebrows and doesn’t say anything.

“Ok fine. It just hit me that I’m going to be gone for 3 months Scott. Mum only has 24 left and-” Stiles bites at his lips. “It just feels stupid now, doing this show.”

Scott smiles like he knows some big secret.

“What? What? Scott, tell me.”

“Your mum thought you’d start feeling like this once you physically left. She made me memorise a speech for her. It’s not long so I probably won’t stuff it up. Want to hear it?” And then Scott just starts it anyway, without waiting for Stiles to respond. 

Thankfully Scott doesn’t put on some stupid voice, just says it normally. Stiles closes his eyes and tries to picture his mum while he listens. In his head they’re sitting on the couch together like they were the day he came to tell her he got on the show. 

“Stiles,” she begins, then bops him on his nose with her finger, “you are my only child and I love you so very, very much. I know you’re worried, probably thinking that what you’re doing is a waste of time or selfish. But I want you to know that that just isn’t true. You’ve probably forgotten because you’re silly with worry over actually leaving, but we talked about this decision together and we both thought it was going to be a wonderful thing. For you and for me too. So chin up, put on the ol’ Stilinski charm, and remember that while I may not see you for the next few months, I’ll be watching it all on TV when it airs, so you better not do anything that will make me want to disown you.”

Stiles sighs out and feels his shoulders drop, unaware they had been tense in the first place.

“Timed that perfectly.” Scott says happily, followed by and enthusiastic, _“holy shit!”_

When Stiles opens his eyes and looks out the window he can see what Scott means.

“This place is huge! You’re going to get lost in there Stiles.”

“I’ll have to ask for a map,” marvelled Stiles in awe.

“Where do I even park? I mean, is there a garage? I don’t want to go onto the grass because someone will probably- Oh look. Someone’s waving us over.” There’s a tall, dark haired woman stepping out of the main entranceway. Stiles hasn’t met her before but when Scott pulls up near the front steps, he places her as the show’s host, Allison Argent.

He hadn’t actually watched the first season of the show religiously, just an episode or two when it happened to be on TV and he was too tired to commit to a movie, but from what he gathered then she was very nice and had a surprising capacity for black humour.

(After he got accepted for the show Stiles marathoned the entire first season and it turns out that he gets really, really sucked into reality TV. It’s probably good for his social life – hell his life in general – that he hadn’t discovered that sooner.)

Scott gets out of the car first, and through the still open door Stiles can hear Allison saying, “You’re not Stiles.”

Which prompts Stiles to climb out of his side of the car and wave at her over the top of it.

“Nope. That would be me.”

“Hi Stiles, nice to meet you.” She has a really charming smile and her dimples are surprisingly bigger in real life. “I see you found your way ok.”

“Yeah. Although that was really all Scott. I just looked out of the window and freaked out a little bit.”

“Scott?” Allison questions, pointing at Scott who is nodding and smiling like... like when he met Christie back in high school. Oh dear. Stiles is going to have to keep an eye on him. “Well thank you for bringing our bachelor here in one piece.”

“You’re welcome.” Scott says, maintaining eye contact with Allison who is just staring right back at him, dimples still on show.

“So,” Stiles tries to break the eye-contact thing they’ve got going on. “What now?”

“Well now we’ll take you on a tour of the house and garden. Scott, were you doing the tour as well?”

“Can I?” Scott blinks a couple of time.

“If you wanted. It might keep Stiles here from freaking out.” She says it like the three of them are already best friends. If Stiles is honest, it’s actually very helpful. She almost does feel like a friend already (though that might be influenced by his watching of the previous season).

“Stiles?” Scott asks.

“That’s cool by me. You can report back to mum. Let her know I’m living in a mansion.” Scott smiles goofily at him and Stiles bumps their shoulders together. Never say that Stiles isn’t a good wing-man.

“Um, actually,” Allison pulls at a piece of hair, “Scott, I think you’d need to sign a confidentiality agreement. I’ll check with Lydia though but, um, you wouldn’t be able to tell Stiles’ mum anything about the house.”

“Don’t worry about signing an agreement.” Lydia steps out of the house with one of the twins. Aiden? Wait, no. The smile’s too big. Ethan then. “We’re changing up Stiles’ outside contact requirements anyway. Although I would strongly advise you not to let any information get further than you and Stiles’ parents.” Lydia levels her stare at Scott who nods sagely.

“Let’s go then.” Allison smiles again and beckons Stiles and Scott up the stairs and through the massive double-door entrance. They end up in a large foyer area which is basically empty except for some prints along the right wall. On the left side is an open doorway which leads to a set of stairs going up to the second story. Apart from the front door they just walked through the only other door is at the opposite end of the room. It’s shut at the moment so Stiles has no idea where it goes.

“So this is the foyer. It’s more functional than anything, but we’ll film the scenes where you choose who to send home here.”

“It’s really just for show.” Ethan lets Stiles and Scott know. “You kick them out, they walk out the front door. Looks good on camera but then of course they have to come back and pack up their stuff before they properly leave.”

Stiles just nods and sees Scott doing the same.

“The staircase,” Allison point to the open door to Stiles’ left, “leads to upstairs which is where you’ll be spending most of your time, but we’ll show you the downstairs stuff first.” Allison walks to the far end of the foyer and opens the door. She walks through first followed by Lydia and Ethan. 

“I have no words.” Scott whispers to him. “This place is just...”

“I know.” Stiles whispers back.

The door leads to a massive open room which seems to serve several purposes at once. The entire back wall is glass and looks out onto a massive garden with a bright green lawn. Stiles thinks he can see an outdoor pool.

“Welcome to the rumpus room.” Allison says cheerfully, throwing her arms open to gesture at the expansive space.

“No one else calls it that.” Lydia says, smiling at Allison who rolls her eyes in response. “But this is where the majority of the show will take place and be filmed, along with the garden.” 

“And the contestants will spend most of their time in this area.” Ethan points out, nodding at the room.

Allison walks to the centre of it and throws her arms out to the side again. “This half is the entertainment part of the room.” She sweeps her arms forward to where they’re standing in front of the door to the foyer. 

“Games side,” she points to their right where there are two massive lounges facing the wall and a mounted TV. Stiles can see a number of gaming consoles lined up neatly on the shelf under the TV, and several games arranged alphabetically. There is also a deep bookshelf against the side wall with board games, puzzles, decks of cards and what looks to be sets of pens and pencils and stacks of paper. Along the same side as the bookshelf are two small desks pressed against the wall with chairs on either side, and a collection of beanbags stacked in a corner. 

“And TV side,” she points to their left. It’s a remarkably similar set up, with two large couches facing a TV mounted on the wall, but the book shelf on this side is stacked with DVDs and CDs and there are no small desks, but smaller, one-person reclining lounge chairs and even more beanbags.

“That is a lot of DVDs.” Stiles points out, making his way over to check them out. “Sorry, I don’t think I’m going to have time to meet any of the contestants, I’m just going to be working through all your BBC series.”

Someone laughs behind him and he hears Scott telling them that it’s actually a serious concern they should have, but then Scott is dragging him away to stand with Allison in the centre of the room.

“Ok and this other half is the kitchen slash dining area. It’s not stocked at the moment but that doesn’t really concern you anyway.”

“Why doesn’t it concern me?” Stiles interrupts. Last he checked he did need food to live.

“Oh. Because you’ll be living on the second floor. It’s basically a duplicate of what’s down here so this isn’t technically your kitchen.”

“Right, right.” Stiles nods dazedly. “There is just a whole other, identical floor just for me. Ok.” At least he won’t have to fight with people over what to watch on TV.

“Not quite,” Lydia says, and Stiles turns around to look at her and Ethan where they’re leaning against the back of a couch in the entertainment section. “The crew stays on the second floor as well for the duration of filming and editing.”

“Oh, that makes more sense.”

“Anyway,” Allison draws Stiles’ and Scott’s attention back to the other half of the room. “Kitchen will be fully stocked and it’s all state-of-the art stuff so the expectation is that people make their own meals. We don’t let you order in to the house because it’s too difficult to manage with confidentiality concerns and what not. And then there,” she points to the massive dining table set with 14 places, “is where you will sometimes be eating meals with the contestants.”

“And the 14th seat is for...?” Scott asks.

“Me. Not all the time, but for some of the segments I’ll be here with you all doing host things.”

The rest of the indoor downstairs is a massive gym on the right hand side and then 12 single bedrooms with shared bathrooms on the left hand side, “Which we can’t be bothered to show you because you’ll never go in there,” Ethan tells him.

Outside is very impressive. Half the back glass wall turns out to be doors which open onto a paved area protected by a wisteria covered pergola. There are chairs and tables and a massive barbeque which Stiles is never ever going to touch because grilling is not something he managed to inherit from his father.

Scott gets very excited by the pool – he’s such a water-baby – and then equally enthused by the secluded corner where there are several hammocks strung between the massive trees. The area is separated from the rest of the garden by tall potted plants and Stiles pictures himself spending a lot of time out here.

There’s also a lovely walkway through a faux-forest like trail which borders the garden and weaves around both sides of the house. Stiles imagines he’s going to have to take quite a few walks along it with the contestants while he’s here. 

The group follow the path and end up back around the front of the house but this time when they get to the foyer they take the staircase up to the second level.

There are a few people sitting in the duplicate rumpus room when they get there. Aiden he recognises but apart from that it’s all new faces for Stiles. Allison introduces him to Danny and Kira who are the main technicians in charge of editing together the show. Malia is the head camera-woman but jokes that the title is only a technicality and that Liam and Braeden are basically one unit with her.

Everyone seems nice, although a few come across as harder than the others, but for the most part Stiles thinks that spending 3 months with these people isn’t going to be a hardship at all.

The gym upstairs is about a quarter the size of the one downstairs because there are a couple of storage rooms taking up another quarter of the space. There’s also a room where Danny and Kira do the editing but Stiles isn’t allowed in there yet. Apparently at some point down the line there’s some segment he has to do in the room with them which makes no sense to him at all, but he gets distracted when they show him the other room in this half of the floor.

“It’s the date room.” Allison tells him.

“The date room.” Stiles repeats and then shares a look with Scott who shrugs his shoulders at him.

It’s a very simple room, with a small table with two chairs in the middle and a couch against the back wall under some windows which look out over the garden.

“Lots of the one-on-one segments you have with the contestants take place here. The initial meetings most notably, but further down there’ll be more reason to use it. Also when we film our wrap-up segments together we’ll most likely be in here.”

Stiles nods his understanding at Allison and happens to catch the look that Scott and her share. In any other context Stiles would have let it fly but they’re standing in the so-called ‘date room’ and Stiles can just see the wheels turning in his friend’s head. If Scott leaves here without her number he is going to be very shocked and disappointed in his effectiveness as a wing-man.

“So is it time to see my room then?”

Allison blinks and then shakes her head a little. “Yes, yes of course. Follow me.” She leads them back past the main room where they left everyone earlier. “I’m showing Stiles to his room.”

“Oh, I’m coming!” Kira jumps up from one of the beanbags. “I love seeing people’s faces when they see it.”

“Why? What’s my face going to do?”

“You’ll see. Or you won’t. Because you can’t see your own face. But I’ll see it and it will be great.”

Stiles understands why Kira came along as soon as Allison opens the door for him.

_“Wow.”_ Scott breathes out beside him, somehow making the word stretch out for several seconds. Stiles just nods along, feeling his mouth open of its own accord.

The room is huge. Massive. Just really freaking ginormous. And yes Stiles is aware that that isn’t actually a real word but the room warrants the use of it.

“Why is it so big?”

“That’s what he said.” Kira helpfully replies. Stiles can’t even find it within him to react.

“What even- what size is that bed?”

“The biggest they make.” Allison tells him happily.

“Can I?”

Allison nods at him and Kira makes forward to push him but Stiles is already bounding across the room to toss himself onto the bed.

“Oh my. Mmmm. This is _niiice._ ”

“Incoming!” Scott yells and flops himself onto the bed next to Stiles. There is so much room that his elbow doesn’t even get Stiles in the gut. “Ugh. Can I stay here with you?”

“Sorry Scotty. Gotta be gay to be a contestant I think.”

“The contestant’s beds aren’t as nice anyway.”

“Ok I’ve made my decision. I’m going to marry this bed and never leave it. Show’s over. Thank you and goodnight everyone.”

“Don’t you want to see the rest of the room?”

“Allison, I can appreciate the room from here. It’s big, it has a window seat, there’s a comfy looking couch. It’s great.”

“So you don’t want to see the ensuite.”

“Why would I want to see the bathroom?”

Turns out, the answer is because it’s amazing. A big double headed shower, a spa bath, really plush bath mats and stacks of fluffy white towels.

“Where does this door go?” Scott asks, turning the handle to a second door inside the bathroom. Stiles walks up to look over his shoulder as he opens it. It’s a walk-in wardrobe that’s as big as his childhood bedroom.

“Are you shitting me. What is all this stuff?” Because there are already clothes hanging up. On closer inspection they turn out not to be regular clothes, but fancy suits, shirts and jackets. And there’s a draw with swimming costumes, plus two more with basic clothes like plain t-shirts and jeans. “How do you know this is going to fit me?”

“Lydia has an eye for it.” Kira lets them know, rustling around in the swimming trunk draw for unknown reasons. “It’s like a side-project for her. Remember Erica’s signature leather skirt from last season? Wasn’t even hers.”

“But if you’re freaking out about it,” Allison begins, walking up next to Stiles so she can look at him while she continues, “you don’t have to actually wear any of this stuff. It’s more for just in case. And the suits we’ll only force you to wear in the final few segments anyway. The official top three date nights.”

Stiles sighs out. Thank goodness. There is no plaid anywhere here. And besides, it’s like Scott had said, isn’t the whole point that Stiles should be as himself as possible?

\---

 

Scott, although being allowed to see the house, can’t stay the night. So after he helps Stiles move his stuff up to the room and unpack he unloads his motorbike from the trunk of Stiles’ car and drives home after giving him a crushing hug. He disappeared for a few minutes in the middle of helping and Stiles is assuming it was to talk privately to Allison. He’ll have to ask one of them later.

Stiles eats dinner with the crew – turns out Liam is resident chef as well as cameraman – and spends the time getting to know them a little better. The conversation is light and easy and everyone is pretty open with each other, comfortable from filming the first season together.

He thinks his favourites are Danny, Kira and Allison. Malia’s up there too, and if Liam keeps cooking amazing food like this risotto he’s going to bump him up the list.

Eventually Stiles’ tossing and turning last night catches up with him and he makes his way to his room and its heavenly bed. He texts his parents to let them know his day went well and that he’ll call them with details tomorrow.

He’s got two more full days here by himself to get used to the house and learn more specifics about how the first few weeks of filming are going to go. Things to do and not do, and other finicky details that he never would have thought to bother about before actually shooting a reality show. And then on the third day the contestants arrive and Stiles possibly meets his future husband.

Despite that disconcerting thought, Stiles falls asleep quickly and dreams of lying in the hammocks in the backyard dressed in a three-piece suit that’s a shimmering blue-green while faceless men watch him sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter turned out very explanatory, but hopefully there was enough Scott/Stiles bonding and other things to keep it interesting. I just really want you all to be able to picture things properly (once they start happening).
> 
> Next chapter you'll meet the contestants.


	3. Meet the Housemates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek meets the contestants.
> 
> Then Stiles meets the contestants.
> 
> And then they meet each other.

It is after 5 o’clock by the time Derek drives up to the house. The contestants were told to arrive any time from 2pm onwards, but to be there for an official welcome dinner at 6. Derek had originally planned to be there right on 2 so he’d have time to scope out the house and get a read on the other 11 men doing the show with him, but Cora had gotten food poisoning and he’d had to cover for her and take Laura to a doctor’s appointment.

He’s not sour about it really, it just means he’s starting off on the back foot here.

He stops the Camaro outside the front of the house but leaves the engine running as he winds down his window to talk to the male figure rushing down to greet him.

In a non-serious way – because he’s clearly not the bachelor – Derek notices that he’s fairly attractive. Tall, tanned, big dimples and a friendly smile.

“Derek, right?” He asks, leaning down slightly to better see through the window. Derek nods. “I’m Danny, one of the crew. You’re the last guest to arrive. The official welcome is in...” he trails off, glancing at his watch, “20 minutes. So if you want to grab your bags and head straight into the house, I’ll park this in the garage for you. You probably have time for a quick shower then before dinner if you wanted. I think you had one of the longer travel days from what I can remember.”

“Yeah, it’s been a long drive. Thanks.” Derek hops out and gets his suitcase and duffel bag out of the trunk. “Where exactly do I go?”

Danny sticks his head out of the driver’s side to reply. “Allison’s waiting in the foyer for you. She’ll show you to your room. See you in 20.”

Derek smiles and nods his thanks as Danny drives his car away to wherever the garage is located. He looks at the house, taking it in. It’s just as big as he expected it would be, but sprawling as opposed to multi-storied.

He remembers he only has a short time before the welcome and makes his way through the open double doors.

“Derek. Hi.” A smiling woman with wavy black hair is waving to him from the other side of the foyer next to an open door through which he can see a number of people turning their heads to look at him. And that was why he wanted to get here early. To be one of the people looking at the newcomers, and to avoid being scoped out himself. 

“Hi. Allison Argent, right?” Derek had done his research before coming here and already knew most of the crew – provided they were the same as last season – by name and face, as well as role within the team.

“Yep. Come on and I’ll take you straight to your room so you can dump your stuff.” She walks quickly through the doorway and Derek follows her into a massive, communal room where he can count 11 men scattered around various lounges. He tries to make eye-contact and smile at most of them but Allison is setting a rapid pace and he figures it’s best to follow her and not get lost. He can meet the other men properly later.

“So through here is where you and the other contestants are staying.” She opens the door to a long corridor with 9 doors on each side. “You each get your own room but you’ll be sharing a bathroom with one other person.” Derek nods to show that he’s listening. “So the rooms were all assigned randomly, here’s yours.” She stops at the third door down on the left. It has a small name plaque on it which reads ‘Derek Hale’. “You won’t need a key or anything but you can lock your door from the inside while you’re in it. So bathroom will be to your left then and it looks like you’re sharing with...” she darts back a little way down the corridor to read the nameplate, “Jordan Parrish. He got here right on two o’clock. He’s really nice, I’m sure you’ll get along fine.”

Derek just nods again, letting her talk, and wonders whether it’s rude to open the door when she’s obviously still inclined to talking to him. He’s starting to feel his 9 hours of being cramped in his car.

“Oh god, sorry. You probably want to shower.” He must have been a little obvious in his expressions. He’s going to have to school them better tomorrow when filming starts if he wants to play the game well.

“It’s not a problem.” He tells her with sincerity because it’s the truth, and also because having a good relationship with the host can be integral to longevity on reality shows. Or so Uncle Peter says. 

(That may just be because he works on a show filled with wannabe models.) 

“Well, I will get out of your hair anyway. Got to go over some stuff with Lydia before the welcome. See you later Derek.”

“Thanks Allison.”

Derek steps through into his living space for, hopefully, the next 3 months and lets out a sigh, shutting the door behind him. It’s a lot nicer than what he was hoping for, and even getting a room to himself was actually a step up from when he thought he’d be bunking with at least one other person.

So even though the room is a little on the small side, Derek smiles as he takes it in. A single bed sits in the back right hand corner of the room and has a small bedside table next to it with a reading lamp. Directly to his right is a small wardrobe with plenty of coat hangers in it and a shoe rack. On the left in the corner closest to him is a chest of draws which he lifts his suitcase on top of to unpack later. The other left corner holds a desk, also with a reading lamp, and a wheeled chair. There’s a manila folder sitting on the desk along with a pencil case and lined notebook.

The door on the left he assumes leads into the bathroom and he bypasses checking the contents of the folder in lieu of grabbing a change of clothes from his bag and heading to the bathroom.

Where the bedroom was on the small side, the bathroom is quite adequate and already there are shampoos, conditioner and moisturisers sitting out on the bench which Derek assumes must belong to his neighbour. They aren’t organised but are at least all on his neighbour’s side so Derek’s fine with it. 

He has a short shower, forgoing shampooing his hair because he’ll have another shower tomorrow morning and do it then. He grabs a towel from the rack on his side of the bathroom and dries quickly, changing into jeans and a loose v-neck tee. He wonders whether he needs to put shoes back on and then figures it’s probably better to be safe than sorry, slipping his feet back into his driving boots.

Checking his watch as he puts it back on he sees that it’s 5:58. 

When he makes his way back to the communal room he notices that a) the shoes were a good call and b) everyone is already seated around the large dining room table. As opposed to earlier, no heads turn to look at him as he comes in for which he’s thankful, the others too distracted by the entire crew standing up near the kitchen island.

Derek takes the nearest available seat at the table, between a large muscular man who doesn’t acknowledge his arrival, and a lanky, slightly younger looking man with runaway curls who does offer him a smile when he sits, even if it is paired with an obvious once-over after which he smiles wider. If Derek wasn’t aware that all these men are bound by the common goal of winning over the still-a-mystery bachelor he’d assume he was being checked out with the intention to flirt.

“Derek.” He says softly to the curly-haired guy, offering his hand.

“Isaac.” Comes the easy reply as the man – Isaac – shakes Derek’s hand. “Just in time. I’ve gotten the sense Lydia is a bit of a stickler for order.”

Derek nods and smiles his agreement with Isaac. He’d noticed the same thing through the interview process.

Sue enough, when the crew start the welcome his watch reads exactly 6 o’clock.

“Welcome to the house everyone. Hope the travel wasn’t too terrible for any of you and that you’re settling in to the house comfortably. I’m Allison Argent, I’m going to be the host this season. You’ve already met Lydia, Aiden and Ethan.” Ethan waves and the other two nod their heads in acknowledgment. “You probably won’t be seeing them around as much as myself because most of their contribution is behind-the-scenes stuff. But you will be seeing a lot of these people, our lovely camera crew.” She gestures to a trio of people who had been standing almost in another part of the room, heads together and whispering, looking back occasionally at the table where Derek sits with the other contestants.

“Hello! Yes, sorry. Just getting a head-start on work.” A tanned woman steps forward and gives them a half apologetic/half in-greeting wave. “So I’m Malia. I’m head-camerawoman. And this is Braeden and Liam. You’ll be seeing us _a lot_ while you’re here because we’re the ones recording everything. It might take you a while to get used to cameras being around and recording all the time but the best advice, and also most boring I can give you, is to just try and ignore us. I think our bachelor will be enough to distract you anyway.”

She winks at the group of men then turns to share a look with Liam and Braeden which Derek tries to interpret. ‘Enough to distract you’ could mean all manner of things from the basic fact of him being the bachelor to other, possibly more interesting things like looks and personality. Malia gives nothing away though and it’s only a quick glance because then Braeden straightens up from where she was leaning against the food-laden kitchen island with Liam.

“Filming details are in the manila folder you should have seen in your rooms but as a brief overview, anything that takes place in this main area here, the foyer, the gym room, and all of the outside area is fair game 24/7 for us to film and use on the show. Your rooms and anything that happens in that wing is 100% private.”

Lydia steps forwards from where she’d been lingering behind Allison and casts a sweeping look over the twelve of them.

“Now for all intents and purposes, this house is going to be your home for the next while. Some of you may be spending up to 3 months here.” Derek watches to see how the others react to that, hoping to get a read on how serious the others are to be here for the long haul, but everyone’s just staring intently at Lydia so he flicks his eyes back to the front. “The house is stocked with books, DVDs, music, games and various other miscellaneous items. If any of you watched our first season you should know that everything has been rearranged. We’ve added some more outdoor and indoor seating, as well as expanding the gym based on feedback we received from last season’s contestants. Having said all that, if you find the house lacking and you want anything else, just let one of the crew members know and if it’s within reason we should be able to get it for you.

“As Braeden said, in your rooms there’s a manila folder with a detailed list of rules for you to comply to while you’re here. Take the time to get used to them, it shouldn’t be hard. There’s also a filming schedule for the first two weeks because there are a number of pre-planned segments we’ll be shooting.” Derek is assuming these segments to be all manner of things from horrible getting-to-know-you and team bonding games, to fan service segments that he’s sure the outdoor pool he can see through the glass wall will have some involvement in.

“There is also information about making contact with people outside of the house.” Derek sits up a little straighter at that. Peter had told him that these shows never allowed any outside contact because it was just too difficult to ensure confidentiality was kept. 

“Oh.” Lydia chuckles. “Sorry that was probably misleading. You aren’t allowed contact. And there’s poor phone reception in the area anyway.” Well, turns out Peter was right. 

“ _But,_ ” Aiden stresses, giving Lydia a knowing side-glance, “we like to think we’re better than the other reality shows. And we do want you to enjoy your time here. So, there are a few concessions we are able to make. But its case by case basis and you’ll need to discuss it with myself, Lydia and Ethan to get the go ahead.” Aiden waits patiently until the twelve of them nod their understanding at him, then he passes it back over to Allison with a head-tilt.

“If you want clarification on anything we’ve said, or stuff in the information folder, just ask any of us.” Allison rounds off her point with a friendly smile and Derek finds himself very thankful that she’s the host and not, well, anyone else who’s spoken so far. “That’s basically it for now. Tomorrow we start shooting but it’s a very light day to ease you into it. In the morning we’ll just film a little introduction clip with each of you individually for the promos and to put on the website. And then in the afternoon it’s the official meet and greet with the bachelor.”

This time Derek notes movement from all of the contestants. A mix of sitting straighter in chairs, stilling, sharp inhales, and even a few cocky smiles (and right there are the people he won’t be rushing to make friends with).

“So you and he will be on even footing tomorrow since none of you know anything about the bachelor and he knows nothing about you. So what’s filmed and what the audience get to experience is a real, honest-to-god, first meeting.”

“We won’t be their either, if you were wondering.” 

“Oh yeah, thanks Malia.” Allison shakes her head. “We want it to be as natural as possible and I know it can be kind of nerve-wracking when there’s a person there pointing a camera at you. So the camera crew just set up a few cameras that sit on tripods and will just tape everything. Then Danny and Kira,” the dimpled guy from earlier and a short, Asian woman with comic strip leggings on wave at everyone, “edit everything together later. Is that everything?” Allison turns to Lydia and the twins for confirmation.

“Second floor is off-limits unless escorted by one of the crew,” Aiden chips in, “but that should be everything.”

“Wonderful.” Allison smiles and turns back to face the twelve contestants. “So we’ve prepared a big dinner for you tonight-” there’s a disruptive cough from someone behind Allison. She obviously recognises who it is because she rolls her eyes and amends, “ _Liam_ has prepared dinner for you tonight. But from here on in you fend for yourselves as far as food is concerned. Fridge and panty are stocked but like Lydia said earlier, if you want something that isn’t there, just let one of us know.”

“You can sleep in tomorrow,” Malia says as Allison starts moving toward the door into the foyer, “but we’re going to start filming the bio’s at 10 so you should all be ready by then in case you’re first.”

By the time Malia finishes, the crew have all left the main room to, Derek assumes, retreat upstairs.

And then he’s alone with the other contestants and it’s time to start playing the reality show game.

\---

He learns through dinner that most of the contestants are actually bona fide nice people, which does raise his faith in the show. One of the reasons it was so popular in its first season was that is actually placed the importance on forming relationships, not conforming to a TV genre. Audiences recognised that and its viewership grew each week until it was the highest rated show on its network.

And the couple who got together last year were still together over a year later.

That said, some of the men Derek gets a sense of overt showmanship from. While he doesn’t shun their attempts at conversation with him during dinner, he’s not actively trying to win them over.

Dinner turned out to also come with dessert and so the meal stretches close to the three hour mark, after which Derek has singled out 3 contestants who he thinks will make the best friends during the course of the show. He doesn’t want to use the word ‘allies’ because it seems a bit harsh for the context of the show, but in some ways that’s what they are to him, at least at this stage.

Isaac made his way onto the list easily. He's open, quick to laugh and while not friendly in an eager way, is definitely easy to talk to. Isaac already seemed to have bonded with another of the younger contestants who's just as loud as him and with a similar propensity for sarcasm. Halfway through dinner, Derek managed to place the familiar face as a semi-professional lacrosse player from NorCal – Brett Talbot. He imagines Lydia and the twins had been quite pleased to get a recognisable face onto their show. Jordan Parrish also makes Derek’s list which is fortunate seeing as they're sharing a bathroom. He isn’t as outspoken as Isaac or Brett, but just as friendly and with a logical head which Derek appreciates and probably will even more as the show actually starts filming. He is sure a few of these seemingly normal people will go a bit loopy when put in front of a camera.

The table conversation splits into small parties based on where people had sat, as large group conversation are want to do, but every now and then something draws all 12 of them into discussion. Most often things relating to the show; does anybody know anything about the bachelor (no), what do people think of the house (massive), who thinks Aiden is more intimidating than Ethan (everyone). So Derek learns everyone’s names. There are a few people who don’t spark any kind of connection that Derek doesn’t bother getting more information on, but there are a few people he puts on another list – people he isn’t going to associate with. These people he does try to learn more about but Derek normally trusts his gut feeling about people and so he doesn’t really _need_ much more than that for them to be on the list.

There's the large muscled guy he's sitting next to, Ennis, who turns out to be a personal trainer and gives off some violent signs. A guy named Matt who plays a little too hard at being nice and likeable with everyone. And finally Jackson Whittemore, who while not appearing mean or violent, just seems a bit self-interested which Derek thinks will only be exacerbated to insufferable levels by the presence of cameras.

Derek is one of the first to bed that night after helping a few of the guys do the dishes. He spends almost an entire hour reading through the information in the manila folder, making sure he can remember all the rules of the house. The last 15 minutes are spent writing up an argument to allow him contact with Laura while he's in the house. He’s hoping to speak with Lydia, Aiden and Ethan as soon as possible tomorrow.

After finishing that he slips into pyjamas and lays on his back under the covers. He means to stay up and think through various scenarios for his one-on-one meeting with the bachelor tomorrow, making sure to give himself the best possible chance at making a good first impression. His day must have worn him out more than he realises because he falls asleep between his first thought and his second.

\---

“So what did you get up to today, honey?” Stiles’ mother’s voice sounds slightly fuzzy through the laptop but the image of her and his dad sitting close together on the couch is wonderfully clear and Stiles’ smiles into it.

“Nothing much. The crew guys were all busy getting ready for filming tomorrow and the guests arriving today. I went for a swim in the pool this morning-“

“Isn’t it a little cold for swimming?” His mother interrupts worriedly, frowning a little.

“Nah,” Stiles waves his hand around in front of his laptop’s camera, “the pool’s heated. And there’s a little spa attached to it which is nice and hot so I just went in that for a minute after my swim.”

His mother looks relived. His dad looks scandalised by the inevitable possibilities of the spa, but powers on anyway. 

“So have you seen the contestants yet? Picked out a husband.”

“Dad! No!” He can feel himself blushing even though he can tell from the smile that his father is just teasing. “I don’t actually get to see any of them until tomorrow. And then the whole wonderful experience of essentially a very compact first date will be filmed for the nation’s enjoyment.” He tries to play it off as a joke but he’s actually slightly (very) nervous about it and his voice wavers a little on the sentence.

“Oh honey.” His mother reaches out a finger to the camera. Stiles imagines he can feel its pressure on his nose and sighs out, dropping his head.

“Yeah, I know. I’m just a little nervous. But I’ll probably be ace at it by victim number 12, it’s just the poor soul who has to go first I’m really worried about.”

“Stiles,” his father begins, “I know that the situation is a little unorthodox, but you’re great at speaking to people and getting them to open up to you. You’ll be fine.”

“Listen to your father.” His mother ads helpfully, kissing said father on the cheek. If he was 7 years younger he would have poked his tongue out at her for it but these days, he wants someone he can do that with.

“Ok. You’re both right.”

“Parents always are,” they recite in unison. Stiles laughs but stops quickly when he hears his dad’s work phone ring.

“Sorry about this son, I’m on call tonight.”

“No problem dad, go get the baddies. I’ll Skype again tomorrow.”

“Love you Stiles.”

“Love you too dad.” And then his father walks out the frame, leaving just his mother on the couch.

It’s only been 4 days since he’s seen her last but he already misses her. Maybe it was because of the increased time spent with her the week before, but it feels different from other times when he’s gone away for holidays or even back when it was school camps. Stiles supposes that’s the effect of knowing that mortality is coming sooner rather than later for someone you love.

“So Stiles,” his mother begins in an innocent voice which Stiles has learnt does not mean something innocent will follow, “when are you going to play the ‘sick mum’ card?”

Stiles jaw drops open in shock. He knows they talked about what being on the show would mean, but that’s very blunt even by his mum’s standards.

“Mum you take that back! You are not a ‘card’ that I will be playing.”

“Oh easy now Stiles, honey, no need to defend me from myself. I’m just,” she pauses, sighs out, then tilts her head slightly closer to the camera, “I’m just reassuring you that it’s ok if you want to talk about me to the candidates sooner rather than later.”

Stiles shakes his head softly at his mother. He thinks she’s where he got his humour-as-a-defence-mechanism gene from (he knows she is, his dad is more often funny accidentally than on purpose).

“Well I don’t plan on telling any of them sooner.”

“Ok.” His mother shrugs. “Don’t be scared to if it comes up naturally though.”

“I won’t,” he assures her.

“Good.”

The pair smile at each other for a few moments and Stiles can almost believe that there aren’t miles and miles between them and months stretching out ahead of them.

He’s surprised to find himself yawning but glancing at the 24 hour clock on his bedside table reveals it to be 00:08.

“Mum! Why did you let me keep you up this late!” He blinks his eyes and leans over to check the clock again. Definitely eight past midnight. “You should be sleeping.”

“If I should be then so should you. Big day tomorrow I hear.”

Stiles smiles despite being annoyed at himself that he’s kept his sick mother up late. 

“Yes, big day. So _I_ will be going to bed _right now._ ” He tries to say it with authority and the implication that she should be too, but it comes out through another yawn and he feels his body slipping a little further into the pillows he’s propped himself up with against the headboard.

“Well goodnight my darling. I love you. Sweet dreams. Think happy thoughts.”

“Goodnight my darling mother. I love you too.” Stiles wraps his arms around his laptop in a faux hug and leans in to kiss at the camera, hearing his mother chuckle as he does so.

“Good luck for tomorrow. You’ll blow them away.” Her smiles conveys her love as much as her words do.

Stiles smiles back with what he hopes is just as much love and then ends their chat and shuts down his laptop. He places it on the side table and flicks the lamp off, crawling under the sheets and closing his eyes.

He tries to clear his mind to encourage sleep along but it doesn’t work in the slightest. By the time 2am rolls around and he’s still tossing and turning. He’s immensely grateful they don’t actually need him until the afternoon so he can sleep in as much as he wants and he won’t have ugly bags under his eyes.

It’s that thought which calms him enough that he’s snoring lightly by the time the glowing red numbers read 02:04.

\---

Stiles is awoken the next morning not by his alarm, but by Kira sitting down and bouncing on the side of his bed.

“Up and at ‘em Stiles!”

“ _Kiraaaa,_ what the-?” They aren’t at that stage of their friendship where he feels comfortable swearing at her (despite their several rounds of UNO yesterday), but he’s seriously thinking about it.

“Come on, I saved you breakfast. Bacon and eggs. And then me and Danny are going to run you through the interview set up, and then you’ve got to film some things with Allison, and then Malia wanted to...” and she just keeps going all the way through Stiles shuffling out of bed, going to the bathroom and semi-making his bed.

She does let him eat in peace though for which he is thankful. Or maybe he should be thanking Danny who came with printed instructions for him to read instead and then distracted Kira with setting up the cameras in the date room for the first day of shooting.

As Stiles contemplates how it is that bacon can go from tasting like its normal greasy goodness to nothing at all from one bite to the next (something to do with nerves and worry probably), Allison comes and sits down across from him at the table.

“Morning,” she says with the enthusiasm of someone who has already been up for hours.

Stiles grunts out something and drinks more coffee.

“Don’t want to burst your bubble but you’ve got a pretty tight schedule today.”

“I thought I wasn’t doing anything until 2pm?” It’s spoken around a mouthful of egg.

“No, that’s just when the first meeting is. You and I have to film a little interview thing beforehand at 1. Did you not read over the schedule I gave you yesterday?”

Stiles swallows slowly and shakes his head. He had completely forgotten about it actually.

“Well that isn’t so bad for today, but these next two weeks are very plotted out in terms of activities and Lydia isn’t going to baby you, so you should definitely look over it later today.”

“Ok, I will.” Allison raises her eyebrows at him. “I promise.” The threat of Lydia is a serious thing.

“I believe you. So you’ve got just under two hours to finish eating and then shower or whatever you want to do to get ready. Then come meet me in the date room at 1pm.”

“Sounds manageable. I’ll make sure I’m showered and shaved and smelling lovely and all that shit.”

“Did you want Lydia to pick out an outfit for you?”

“What. No. Why?”

“To make a good first impression,” Allison replies with sincerity and Stiles isn’t sure whether he should take that as an insult to his clothing taste. He feels like he’s come a long way from his high school days of graphic tees. Or at least, he knows how to put together a decent outfit now that doesn’t revolve around plaid and layering when he needs to.

“I’m good. Thanks. Besides, doesn’t it make more sense that I pick out my own outfit? Like, the whole point of this is that they get to know me so why would I want to wear clothes someone else chose for me?” He realises he’s sounding very much like Scott right now.

Allison beams at Stiles. “You know, Erica said pretty much the same thing when I offered the same to her last season.”

“Wait,” Stiles pushes his now finished breakfast plate away from him, “was that some kind of test?”

“Not really.” It’s Stiles turn to raise his eyebrows. “Kind of. But you passed with flying colours. I have to go now though. Danny and Kira want my help choosing the best takes from the contestant bios we shot this morning.”

Stiles perks up at that.

“No.”

“No what? I hadn’t said anything yet.”

“I could read it on your face Stiles. I’m not telling you anything.”

“Fine. You’re such a party-pooper.”

“Ooh, harsh words from the guy with bed hair and coffee on his pyjama shirt.” Stiles glances down at his spotless sleeping t-shirt. “Gotcha.” Allison smiles in victory and Stiles rolls his eyes at her. “See you in the date room at 1.”

“See you then,” Stiles says after her retreating back.

\---

“Nice choice.” Allison looks Stiles up and down as he takes a seat opposite her in the date room.

They’re sitting at the small table in the centre of the room, Stiles in the chair facing the door and Allison across from him in one facing the window.

“Where are the others?” Stiles asks, noticing that it’s just the two of them. He’d expected at least one of the camera people in here with them.

“It’s just us. Lydia and the twins are downstairs prepping the contestants and the others should all be in the editing room watching this live.” Allison takes the time to point at each of the three cameras set up in the room. The one in the middle – presumably getting a wide shot of the table and its two occupants side on – Allison winks at. The one near Stiles, pointing back at Allison’s face, she waves her fingers at, and then the third camera nearer to Allison which is angled towards Stiles she looks over her shoulder at and pokes her tongue out.

Stiles feels nervousness creep up on him. Well, not so much creep up on as leap onto him. He swallows and threads his fingers together to keep them from tapping against the table.

“Nervous?” Allison asks.

“Yes.” No point downplaying it, Stiles figures it must be pretty easy to read from his body language.

“I’d think that of all the people here you’re the one with the least reason to be nervous.” Stiles clenches his hands together tighter. “I mean Stiles, you’ve got the guarantee of walking away from this show with someone. The other 12 guys, only one of them is going to get that.”

Stiles sighs out and smiles at Allison, thankful to her for calming his nerves.

“Ok. I’m ready.”

“For what?” Allison cocks her head.

“To do the interview thing now, or whatever.”

Allison laughs at that. “Stiles, we’re already doing it.”

“Wait, what?” He turns to look at the camera closest to him. “Seriously? Can we edit out the bits where I look like I’m freaking out?”

“Nope.” She looks gleeful. Stiles groans and slips down in his chair a little.

“Ok fine. Let’s just continue then.”

“Ok. So, let’s start with the basics then. Tell us about you.”

Well at least it wasn’t straight out ‘why are you doing the show’.

“Ok. Well, wait- Am I meant to address the cameras or do I just look at you?”

“Look at me Stiles. Didn’t Malia give you her speech about ignoring the cameras?” It’s not unkind, just a gentle reminder from a friend trying to calm his nerves.

“Oh yeah.” Stiles breathes deeply and does his best to ignore the three massive cameras in the room. When he opens his eyes and looks at Allison and her dimpled smile he finds it actually rather easy to. 

“My name is Stiles Stilinski and yes, Stiles is a nickname. But that’s because I can’t pronounce my real name. It’s Polish. But hey, maybe one of the guys here will be Polish and could teach me how. That’d certainly win them some brownie points. Anyway,” he takes a deep breath, realising he’s maybe not as not-nervous as he’d thought a few seconds ago. He unlaces his hands so he can gesture with them and continues. “I’m 26 years old and live in Beacon County, California. I’m the manager of a bookstore in Beacon Hills which I am very sad to be away from. As you could probably guess I love reading. It’s my main hobby along with games – card, video, board – anything skill based. _Not_ lucks games, I don’t get the point of them at all. I also love all BBC television series and am very fond of breakfast foods.”

After that Allison asks him some more fairly routine question; what he looks for in a guy, what he’s looking forward to doing as part of the show, what he thinks of the house, what he wants to do in his future. Its fun just talking with Allison even though it’s mostly him doing the talking and the subject is all about him.

And then of course Allison has to ask him the big question.

“So Stiles, what made you want to do this show?”

It’s easy telling Allison, because he knows she already knows why, and he’s comfortable after their previous half hour chatting.

“My mother, Claudia, was diagnosed a few months ago with cancer. It wasn’t detected as early as it could have been and,” he inhales deeply, taking his time letting the air out, “it’s spread too far to be treatable. The doctors estimate she has about two years before the cancer takes her. Mum and dad, they’re wonderful. I love them so much and they have this great relationship that they still cherish over 20 years into their marriage. I’m their only kid and mum is always telling me how excited she is to see me grow up and fall in love and get married like she did. And so now with her cancer, and the doctors saying she only has two years, I want to make her dream a reality. I want to- to fall in love.” It’s a close call but Stiles manages not to tear up too much. It’s somehow more poignant telling the story knowing that someday thousands of others will be hearing it.

Allison wraps up her talk with Stiles with enough time for him to wind down after his declaration. Liam and Danny join them to tell him a little about the recording but don’t stay for long and between Stiles syncing his watch to the clock on the wall and stretching his legs to look out the window into the empty backyard, Ethan comes in to tell him the first contestant will be coming up in one minute.

Stiles nods at Ethan, tries telling his body to stop shaking (it doesn’t listen), and then sits in his vacated chair facing the door so he can see whoever the lucky – unlucky? Lucky? – first person is.

It’s three seconds after 2pm according to his newly synched watch when he hears the door handle being turned and jolts to a standing position.

The guy who walks in does so with a nervous smile that immediately puts Stiles at ease because he is clearly in the same, shaky boat as this man.

He stretches his hand out a little prematurely across the table and introduces himself.

“Hi. I’m Stiles Stilinski.”

“Hi. Jordan Parrish. Nice to meet you.”

Stiles sits down and watches Jordan as he sits. They’re about the same height, although Stiles may be a little taller. Jordan has short, light-brown hair and cute brown eyes. He’s wearing a long-sleeved shirt but Stiles gets the sense from the way it pulls slightly across his shoulders that Jordan is fairly muscled.

Stiles has always liked guys with a bit of muscle on them. Or just lean and well defined. Anything that isn’t a crazy muscles-on-muscles level of definition really, he’s not overly fussy about looks. It might be a little vain of him to say but he honestly does care more about someone’s personality than their appearance. Even his one-night stands during college had to pass some base kind of personality test before his penis got interested.

It takes Jordan shuffling awkwardly in his chair for Stiles to realise he’s been staring.

“Sorry. Just a little nervous.” Stiles admits.

“Me too.” 

“So,” Stiles thinks about some kind of general question he can ask to start their conversation, “what do you do Jordan?” 

Jordan smiles and sits a little straighter, probably relived Stiles isn’t creepily staring at him anymore.

“I’m a deputy with the Hillvale Police Department.”

“No way. My dad’s a sheriff. I actually think he may have worked with Hillvale on the Fenton case.”

“Wait, you’re last name is Stilinski?” Stiles nods. “Beacon County’s Sheriff Stilinski is your father?”

“Yeah, that’s him.”

“We’ve met. He’s a great sheriff.” Jordan looks like he’s telling the truth. He’s also relaxed a little more into his seat and his smile isn’t as nervous looking. It’s just really nice. 

“Wow.” Is this some kind of sign? Is the universal telling him that Jordan is the one? He already knows Stiles’ father which would come in handy in the long run.

 _You’re only one contestant in_ , Stiles has to remind himself. Sometimes he gets attached.

Jordan is very nice and is actually a perfect first contestant in terms of getting Stiles comfortable. They basically just stick to asking back and forth about each other’s work, hobbies, likes and dislikes, but it’s nice. Stiles can almost forget he’s being filmed for a reality show.

After the clock on the wall buzzes their 10 minutes and Jordan leaves, Stiles has 2 minutes by himself to think over their meeting and get ready for the next contestant.

While there hadn’t been any overt connection sparked between them, at least not on his side, Stiles isn’t counting anyone out yet. And with a smile like that and his good-guy charm it’s not like he would have discounted Jordan anyway. 

Stiles sticks to a similar format with the next few people he meets; asking them about their jobs and then just following the conversation on from there. It’s actually a wonderfully telling first question he finds because it provides a quick insight into the other man. Obviously there’s the surface reading of whatever his job actually is and what kind of personality that entails for people of that profession, but then Stiles also tries to pick up on how much they enjoy their job - whether they’ve gone after their dream job or just happened to settle into something. It’s fascinating.

Candidate number two – Brett Talbot (Stiles is a fan of that name) – admits to being a professional lacrosse playing and Stiles blushes guiltily at not knowing who he is. But he played lacrosse in high school so he’s not completely in the dark.

Number three is an IT teacher at a primary school which Stiles finds very endearing and reminds him of his mother who teaches kindergarten. Mason is just as nice as Jordan and Brett but slightly more flirty than them which Stiles finds himself enjoying. He hasn’t actually stretched his flirting muscles in a while due to no real reason at all. If the way Mason was responding is anything to go by he hadn’t lost his talent at it.

Number four walks in and introduces himself through a smirk and very firm handshake with lingering finger-to-palm contact. Stiles is grateful he warmed his flirting up with Mason and not this guy. Jackson is like something straight out of a fashion magazine, with a strong jaw line, perfectly styled hair and confidence that, basically, Stiles finds quite sexy. He also turns out to be witty and quick to match Stiles’ sarcasm, making Stiles determined to top him somehow. 

While ordinarily Stiles would see someone like Jackson as out of his league, he actually turns out to be in a remarkably similar position to Stiles. They’re both only children, both seem to enjoy the same literary and movie genres, and even their taste in food is overlapping. He’s also a store manager which Stiles appreciates. He doesn’t know many people he can talk about his job with that really understand what being a manager actually involves.

“So how many stores _are_ we talking?”

“I’m the regional manager for 13 mens clothing stores.”

“Well that would explain it.”

“Explain what? My immaculate sense of style?” Jackson raises a challenging eyebrow. Stiles doesn’t back down.

“Yes.” He replies bluntly.

“I used to model.”

Stiles refuses to let his curiosity show on his face but he’s for sure going to be looking that up when he gets back to his laptop.

Jackson forgoes shaking Stiles hand after their 10 minutes to place a hand on his shoulder instead, fingers managing to brush against the bare skin of his neck. Jackson, it seems, is very aware of his sex appeal and isn’t afraid to use it. Stiles isn’t sure whether that’s pompous or really freaking hot.

After interview five – with a kind of cocky yet very Abercrombie & Fitch attractive hospitality worker named Garret – Stiles gets the feeling that good looks aren't going to be a problem for any of the contestants. He probably could have figured that out sooner, this being a reality show and all. And then the sixth guy walks in for his meeting and Stiles takes it back. Well, it probably makes sense visually that they have at least one guy who was rocking the steroid muscles on the show. Shame for Ennis though because that isn’t a real turn on for Stiles. 

Stiles finds out he’s a personal trainer as well. He doesn’t want to jump to conclusion too soon but he doesn’t think number six is the one.

Number seven is a dud as well. Who knew accountants were actually as boring as the stereotype suggested? And why did he insist on Stiles calling him Greenberg. His name was William. That’s a _nice_ name, if a bit formal. But _Greenberg_?

Number eight is a photographer which Stiles thinks is pretty cool. He did a photography class for extra credit at college and Matt and him manage to spend most of their time talking about the different styles of camera and digital vs film. After Matt shuts the door behind him Stiles realises he was possibly more interesting in talking about art then he was learning about Matt.

Number nine is a bit of a respite. There isn’t any flirtatious competition or banter, it’s just a simple exchange of information between Stiles and Jonathan, who gets brownie points for being an archivist, a path Stiles almost went down as a post-grad student. Jonathan isn’t in your face attractive either, just nice, simple, non-offensive features that have that strange ability to get more attractive the more you engage with the person.

And then in walks, no, _saunters_ , contestant number ten.

The first thing Stiles notices are the curls. My my are they are impressive. Stiles thinks they’d be great for running his fingers through and wow, this high rate of intensive one-on-one exposure to attractive men must be doing something for his libido.

And then he notices the curled mouth under the pretty blue eyes and it’s on. Stiles isn’t sure what ‘it’ is that’s on but something’s about to happen.

It turns out that something is basically a lot of hard core flirting. Not like, nice, I’m trying to at least be subtle about it flirting. No, like, this flirting has an end game and that end game takes place in the bedroom.

The man with the baby-blues pulls his chair around from opposite Stiles to the side perpendicular to him. Stiles thinks that Danny and Kira are not going to be happy about that.

He angles is towards Stiles, back of the chair facing him, and straddles it with exaggerated slowness. Stiles thinks he licks his lips but it’s hard to feel that physical sensation when his brain is going a little haywire.

The man extends a hand to Stiles. He doesn’t have to extend it far they’re sitting so close.

“Isaac Lahey. Nice to meet you.”

“Stiles Stilinski.” He tries to power through the breathlessness of his voice but Isaac’s smirk says it all. As does his obvious appraisal of Stiles' body which, well it’s not unflattering, but it’s also not entirely comfortable and Stiles is back to thinking about the cameras.

Stiles is so distracted that Isaac is the one who starts their conversation, asking Stiles about his job. And that’s good for a couple of minutes conversation about books and reading (Isaac has a strange fondness for historical fiction and his smirk actually looses a bit of its edge when he says his favourite books are Mary Stewart’s Arthurian Saga).

“So what do you do?” Stiles asks before he can let Isaac’s soft smile become even more distracting than his smirk.

“I’m a teacher.”

“Really, you seem a little too snarky to be a teacher.”

“High school teacher. If you don’t have snark you don’t survive.”

“Oh man, I would love you as a teacher.”

“Well...” Isaac smirks at him and licks his lips with definite purpose. “You’d have to call me Professor Lahey.”

Stiles gulps at the blatant innuendo and then laughs a little at himself, feeling his cheeks heat up. “I walked right into that one didn’t I?”

“It’s all good.” Isaac stares at Stiles. “Although, it’s probably too soon to be dropping lines about detention and being a naughty boy isn’t it?”

Stiles chokes on air. “Just a little bit I think.”

“No biggie.” And just like that Isaac’s stare loses its lewd intensity and he’s back to the sarcastic (but Stiles has come to learn, _friendly_ ) guy who first walked in. Stiles has a feeling he’s going to remember Isaac’s other look later tonight though. 

Isaac departs with a similar move to Jackson – hand on Stiles’ shoulder – but goes for a kind of massaging movement as opposed to skin contact.

Stiles thinks Isaac is the living embodiment of ‘go hard or go home’. And he realises he may have said that out loud and so turns to look at one of the cameras.

“Um, Danny? Kira? Let’s not put me saying that in, ok?”

It is not helpful that he’s basically speaking to nothingness.

He moves the chair back to where it was pre-Isaac and then sits in his seat, fingers tapping away on the tabletop. 

Stiles feels very bad for contestant number 11 because his brain is only half invested in their conversation, too busy playing Isaac’s wink, and the way he sat down, and the curl of his hair over and over. Of course all this he only realises in hindsight after Nathan leaves. It’s possibly a shame too because Nathan seemed like one of the more realistic choices for Stiles; a nice man, slightly older, sparkling eyes, clearly doing something he loves (teaching swimming classes), easy laugh, flowing conversation.

So with only one more to go Stiles firmly tell his brain, _shut the fuck up_ , and aims to dedicate himself firmly to being present for the final meet-and-greet.

When the door opens for the twelfth and final time Stiles tells his brain to shut up again, because he’s pretty sure it’s dreaming this man up. 

But then they shake hands and Stiles manages to subtly (hopefully subtly enough that cameras didn’t get it) pinch himself and yep, it’s reality.

Before even beginning a conversation, number twelve, Derek Hale, is sitting in the top three of most of the lists Stiles has been composing throughout the day including best smile and most gorgeous eyes (Stiles is pretty sure he’s the top of that latter list because good god his irises were impressive). 

And did he mention the smile already? Who knew he had a thing for teeth. He’s going to have to have a serious chat to his libido after this day is over.

“So what do you do Derek?”

“I’m an engineer.”

“Cool. What kind?”

Derek quirks his head at that and leans backwards into his seat. 

“What? Should I not have asked?” Stiles feels self conscious despite the fact that Derek should be the one vying for _his_ acceptance.

“No, you’re fine. It’s just that most people don’t ask that question.”

“What do they ask?” Stiles is interested. As if it wasn’t enough that Derek was good looking, he actually had to go and have a fascinating job and appear to love it.

“They don’t. Mostly they say something along the lines of ‘cool’ or ‘interesting’ and then ask something else. Although,” Derek begins, leaning forwards again, but continuing so he’s almost in Stiles’ space, “I did once have someone respond with ‘that’s the one that fixes cars, right?’ I don’t think I ever spoke to them again.”

Stiles laughs and then realises he probably looked stupid doing so, throwing his head back and everything. And then he remembers that he’s the one all these guys are wanting to date so he lets it go. 

“You’re kidding.” 

“Sadly, no.” Derek sits up properly again and smiles.

“So what’s the answer then?”

“Hmm?” Derek responds absently, and Stiles watches his eyes flick down to his mouth for a second. Interesting. Guess he’s knows this one finds him attractive.

“What kind of engineering.” Stiles prompts, smiling and barely restraining the urge to lick his lips to see how Derek would react.

“Oh. Civil engineer.”

Stiles mirrors Derek’s early move and leans back in his chair. “So _you’re_ the one I can blame for the train system being so crap where I live.”

Derek smiles again, “Nope. That’s not my division.”

Stiles blinks a few times. “Did you just-?”

“Did I just what?”

“You know what, never mind.”

“Ok then.” Derek shrugs and smiles that easy smile again. If Stiles were picking just off pleasantness of faces, Derek would definitely be leading the charge, maybe tied with Jordan. “I used to be quite involved in the design of the state’s water systems but I do more consulting now.” Stiles nods his head at Derek, finding himself interested to learn more about what he does (unlike the accountant from earlier – that was a tough 10 minutes even for Stiles). 

Derek shuffles a little in his chair and narrows his eyes slightly, as if disbelieving that Stiles could actually find his job interesting. He’s just a little bit right, Stiles will admit. He’s just enjoying Derek’s obvious enthusiasm and commitment to his job, not necessarily actually learning about civil engineering. Although actually, engineering _is_ an intriguing subject and often misunderstood.

“I do environmental impact assessments for large scale projects.”

“Cool.”

“You’ve said that before.” Derek smiles at Stiles and for some reason, Stiles gets the sense that he’s seeing it for the first time.

“So I have. Guess I just find what you do that fascinating.”

“And I find that hard to believe.” So Stiles had read him correctly earlier. Well that’s gratifying. Maybe it’s some kind of subconscious connection between them? Or maybe Stiles is just getting better at this seeing as Derek is his final meeting of the day.

Just as Stiles is opening his mouth to ask more about Derek’s job, the buzzer signalling the end of the 10 minutes rings loudly through the room. Stiles could have sworn it had only been about 3 minutes tops.

“Ah. I guess that’s my queue.” Derek glances at the clock, eyebrows drawing down ever so slightly. Oh wow, how had Stiles not noticed the _eyebrows_ before.

“Yeah. Sorry.” Wait, why is he apologising?

Derek chuckles at it though.

“No problem. Besides, I’m sure I’ll see you again sooner rather than later.” Derek lingers in his chair a moment longer, eyes flicking once again to Stiles lips. He pushes his chair back almost abruptly and heads to the door. Stiles blinks at the change of demeanour.

At the doorway Derek opens the door and then pauses, turning his head to look at Stiles over his shoulder.

“I did by the way.”

“Did what?” Stiles is distracted trying not to do drop his eyes from Derek’s face to his ass.

“Quoted Sherlock at you.” Before Stiles can process that completely, Derek walks out and shuts the door behind him. 

“Well,” Stiles says to himself, blinking several times and seeing the image of Derek framed in the doorway imprinted on the back of his eyelids.

At the end of the 12 interviews it turns out Stiles has things in common with most of the contestants. He found pretty much all of them attractive, or with the potential to be seen as such, and his top 3 lists are actually a mix of people, not just the same few over and over. If nothing else, Stiles realises he actually enjoyed meeting a bunch of new people, and his brain now has lots of new material for his dreams.

These next three months are going to be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, things are happening!
> 
> So I think this reality show is going to be a strange mix of like a Bachelor/Big Brother scenario. I haven't watched either show though so don't take my word for it.
> 
> Next chapter, some fun bonding activities. Or something. And Derek reacts to meeting Stiles.
> 
> Thanks once again!


	4. Pen and Paper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek reacts to meeting Stiles. 
> 
> The contestants play a mini-game.
> 
> ( _plus a set up for chapter 5 and an apology for me for taking so long to write this_ )

Derek walks slowly back downstairs to the main room, giving himself time to process.

Stiles Stilinski is not what Derek was expecting.

He’s better.

Derek had spent so much time in the lead up to today thinking about this show as some kind of exercise in genre manipulation and playing to tropes and stereotypes. He’d forgotten that the bachelor was going to be a living, breathing, _thinking_ person.

If Derek considers the past 10 minutes to be a first date then he has to admit to himself that it was one of the better ones. By far. Talking with Stiles was easy, and not just that, interesting too but with enough sense of character to Stiles’ speech that Derek didn’t just feel like he was being interviewed.

Even though Derek was the last person Stiles had seen today, he spent the whole time eagerly conversing with Derek. Derek got the sense that Stiles was genuinely eager to be on this show and actually legitimate in finding someone to start a relationship with. His questions proved he was clearly intelligent, and he was quick to laugh which reminded Derek a lot of Cora. 

But then there were the other things that weren’t like Cora at all. For one, Derek found Stiles attractive. Distractingly so actually. Blinding smile and tempting moles and confident in his skin. He’s always had a preference for brown hair and walking into that room and seeing Stiles running a hand through his hair, leaving it wonderfully dishevelled... Derek’s going to remember that for a long time.

If he ends up getting through this whole show and ending up with Stiles, he’s going to spin yarns out of that first meeting. Terribly embarrassing and sincere.

But he’s getting ahead of himself. 10 minutes is not a lot of time to learn about a person, and to be honest, it had felt closer to 5 anyway.

Derek can’t stay upstairs for too long because as part of the show the contestants are all supposed to be downstairs discussing their meetings with Stiles while the camera crew film it. 

When Derek returns to the main rumpus room it’s to find everyone spread casually about the room. Malia, Liam and Braeden are dispersed around the room, variously filming and chatting to the other guys. But it doesn’t look like they’ve forced anything or planned any kind of formal segment.

So Derek goes to the couches in the games section of the room where Isaac, Jordan, Mason and Brett and currently in discussion.

He’s barely settled into the corner of the couch when Isaac turns to him with a smirk.

“So, what did you think?”

“Of Stiles?”

Isaac nods and his smirk gets bigger. He looks around at the 3 on the other couch who are all looking at Derek intently.

“I feel like I’m being put on show here.” Which is true. Derek has spent the last few hours sitting in the upstairs version of the rumpus room with progressively less and less people to distract him as their names got called out to go to meet Stiles. And Jordan was first so he’s had plenty of time already to talk things out with the others. “Tell me what you guys thought first.”

Isaac and Brett roll their eyes at him but Mason shrugs and talks.

“I thought he was cool. I mean, it’s hard to really get a sense of anyone after 10 minutes but he seems nice, fun, smart. A little flirty. Nothing not to like I guess.”

“I’m with Mason.” Brett contributes.

“Did he know who you were?” Derek asks, curious. If he did, and Stiles cares about those sorts of things, it could become a major advantage for Brett.

“Nah.” Derek finds himself absurdly relieved to hear that. “But he played lacrosse in high school apparently so we ended up spending most of our time talking about it.”

“What about you?”

“He seemed a little nervous,” Jordan begins, “but that’s probably only because I was first. Isaac said he was definitely over it by the time he went in.”

“Definitely.” Isaac says with a trademark quirk of his lips.

“I’m guessing,” Derek begins, “that your conversation was not so innocent.”

“Not at all.” Isaac replies with smugness. “Stiles is really good with banter. And he looks great when he blushes.” 

“Mmm.” Derek finds himself agreeing unintentionally.

“So things went well for you then?” Jordan inquires politely.

“Yes. I think so. I hope so. He was...” Derek struggles to find the right word. Pleasant? Stiles was, but that word makes him sound unremarkable. Which he wasn’t. Friendly? Sure, but does that suit someone who you are trying to date via a reality TV show? Beautiful? A bit too much too soon probably. 

“He was what?”

“Better than I was expecting.”

He feels a bit naff saying it but the others all either nod or laugh and agree with him. Derek smiles back in return, almost feeling an actual friendship start between him and these guys.

“So what have the camera people been doing?” Derek asks.

“Not a lot.” Jordan looks over his shoulder as he replies, to where Liam and Malia are currently filming Matt, Garret and Greenberg doing something involving paper and pens. “They basically just ask some general questions about how you feel the interview went. But this thing with the paper is new.”

“I guess we’ll find out what that’s about soon.” Mason remarks. “Looks like Braeden’s coming over.”

Derek follows Mason’s line of sight and sure enough, Braden is walking over from the kitchen – where Jackson and Ennis are now scrunching pieces of paper into balls – carrying her camera on her shoulder. She pulls over a chair from one of the desks near the wall.

“I’m just going to film you guys talking for a while. I could give you a spiel about ignoring the camera and being yourselves but you all look like intelligent men so you can just figure it out for yourselves. Besides, we don’t care for the fourth wall on this show anyway.”

Derek huffs out a laugh despite himself.

“What’s with the paper and pens?”

Braden looks at Mason then chucks him a pad of paper.

“I guess we’re starting with the game then. Give everyone a piece.” Mason obliges. “So this is just meant to spark discussion really, but it’s also a quick way to give the viewers a sense of how you’re feeling right now about the bachelor. I suppose I can call him Stiles now though. What a name, huh. Did any of you ask him about it?” 

They really mustn’t care for the fourth wall if Braeden is actively encouraging conversation with her, but Derek finds he likes it. It makes him feel more at ease surrounded by all these cameras. He’ll probably appreciate that more as the weeks go on.

Isaac, Brett and Mason shake their heads – as does Derek – but Jordan replies in the affirmative.

“I’ve actually met Stiles’ dad.” Jordan begins and Derek feels his eyebrows rise. Next to him he hears Isaac swearing under his breath. Derek’s not sure if it’s that Jordan and Stiles’ father have just met or whether they actually know each other better, but either way, Stiles is definitely going to be thinking about that when he’s choosing which candidates to move into the next round.

“Really?” Braeden encourages.

“We worked together on a case about a year ago. I remember him talking about his son but his name wasn’t Stiles. Not that I remember what his real name actually is. It’s Polish I think.” Braeden nods. “So I asked Stiles about it. Turns out it’s a nickname.”

“Who on earth gave him the nickname ‘Stiles’?” Brett asks.

“He chose it himself.” Jordan smiles.

“Fascinating stuff, really, but what am I doing with this paper.” Isaac holds up the aforementioned paper.

“Grab a pen and write down 3 descriptors that come to mind when you think of Stiles. Don’t think too hard about it. You’ve got 15 seconds and then you’ll flip them so the camera can see them. 15, 14, 13...” Derek grabs a pen from the table and then tries to think of his words.

It’s difficult. Stiles seems like the kind of person who requires a dozen if not more words to fully encompass him.

He keeps it on the cautious side in the end, there’s not enough time to get creative.

“...2, 1, flip.”

He turns his paper over. It reads; intelligent, sociable, genuine. 

Derek’s is the only list that doesn’t say anything about Stiles’ appearance. Isaac’s gone for “adorable” which Derek finds surprising. Brett’s is a slightly more adventurous “very attractive” and Mason’s gone the other way with a simple “cute”. Jordan’s is the most tame, reading “nice smile” to which Derek agrees wholeheartedly. 

Braeden laughs at something and Derek sees she’s looking at Isaac’s list again. Above the “adorable” is a half-heartedly crossed out “fuckable” which he missed on his first reading. Isaac’s smirking again and laughing and Brett leans over to punch him in the shoulder. Derek has a second of feeling ashamed on Stiles’ behalf but he’s learnt very quickly that Isaac’s playing up his sexual side as part of the show – like an R-rated class clown – and he doesn’t actual have nefarious intentions behind the words.

The guys make fun of him a little for his word choices but they’ve all got variations on his themes so he just jibes them right back.

After several minutes of picking apart each other’s lists Braeden leaves them, joining Malia and Liam to head upstairs.

Isaac and Brett have long since made their lists into paper airplanes which they now aim at Ennis and Jackson in the kitchen. Isaac’s hits Jackson right on the nose and somehow it starts a mini fight with everyone’s wads of paper. Derek joins in, finding himself laughing along with the other contestants. It’s nice to feel this comfortable around everyone, if not a little surprising. Derek was prepared for competitiveness and animosity but he’s been gladly proved wrong.

He offers to make dinner for everyone and winds up giving an impromptu cooking class to Nathan, Jordan and Greenberg who volunteer to help with the lasagne.

After dinner Derek retires to his room and writes an email to Laura. He’d managed to get permission to contact her from Lydia and the twins with very little fuss. He fills her in on meeting Stiles and suggests a few times that they can Skype during the week.

He also spends a few paragraphs talking about the other guys and finishes by letting her know in all honesty that even if he doesn’t end up being chosen by Stiles, he’s confident he’ll at least have a few more friends by the time filming is over.

\---

“Polite!” Both Scott and his mother yell at Stiles over Skype.

“I panicked! I couldn’t think of anything else! And there was a timer going and Allison was giving me serious eyes.”

“Oh my god Stiles. Poor guy. Do they get to find out what you said?”

“Jesus I hope not. That would be embarrassing, and not just for me.” He flashes back to the ‘sex-on-a-stick’ answer he blurted out about Isaac and flushes anew.

He’s recounting to his parents and Scott – who crashed the Skype chat citing Stiles’ lack of texting as his excuse ( _Not my fault, the reception here is crap Scott_ ) – about the ‘3 Things’ game he had to play with Allison after the interviews.

Honestly most of it was fine, there were just a few times when Stiles’ brain wasn’t quite up to scratch in thinking of words that weren’t painful to either him, the contestant, or a lot of times both of them. 

Struggling to come up with a third word for Greenberg and having to resort to “polite” at the last minute was one of them. He thinks he made some kind of reference to steroids when talking about Ennis which was a dick move in hindsight. Stiles thinks he may also have used the phrases “swimming pool eyes” and “glass-cutting face bones”. 

Dear god no-one is going to watch his season are they?

Stiles makes the executive decision that after this chat he is going to try and blur the memories out so he won’t be feeling randomly embarrassed and or guilty around the contestants during future interactions. 

“So what’s up next then?” His father is at least trying to help Stiles out by moving the conversation on.

Stiles perks up in his seat and readjusts his laptop screen.

“I’m actually really excited. Tomorrow I’m designing this scavenger hunt challenge thing that the contestants are going to do at the end of the week and the winners get longer, one-on-one dates with me.”

Scott laughs.

“Are you insulting me there Scott?”

“Oh, sorry. I’m sorry dude, it’s just, it’s so _surreal_ hearing about this stuff.” His dad nods along with Scott at that. “I mean winning a date with you? Via scavenger hunt? It’s just crazy.”

“I suppose it is. I think I’ve kind of gotten over that now that I’ve met everyone. I’m just going to keep enjoying myself and see what happens.”

“Good for you honey.” He shares a smile with his mother.

“Thanks ma. So anyway, it’s like a treasure hunt slash trivia game thing which should take them a few hours of running around the house and garden to find clues for. I mean, I haven’t made it yet but I think there’s also a bunch of logic puzzles and words games too. I’m kinda sad I’m not going to be doing it actually. Sounds fun.”

“Do you make the whole thing by yourself? That seems like a lot of work.” His fathers’ brow is furrowed as if worried his son is being used for unpaid manual labour.

“Nah, Lydia and Allison have created a basic one which I’ll just look over tomorrow and add some things to. They basically just wanted me to make it a bit more ‘Stiles-centric’. Allison says it’s suppose to, like, give the guys an insight into my brain and it supposedly will reveal my brainwave soulmate or whatever.”

“Well if any of them can figure out that sentence they’ve got my approval.” Claudia smiles cheekily at Stiles.

“Hey. It’s late and my brain is fried from meeting 12 new potentially life-altering people today so, so just... yeah.”

Stiles sits there while Scott and both his parents laugh at him.

“Yes ok. I think that’s probably a sign I should get some sleep before tomorrow. Sleep time for Stiles. ‘Night everyone.”

He waves goodbye to them and shuts down his laptop, running his hands through his hair and down his face as his mouth stretches into a yawn.

He changes into sleeping pants and a loose tee then hops into bed, lying on his side so he can stare at the night sky through his still open curtains.

Today has been an emotional rollercoaster for Stiles, bouncing back and forth between nervous and excited and happy and jittery and nervous and a fair amount of turned on as well. He rolls onto his back and closes his eyes, running the 12 faces through in his head. Seeing as he only had 10 minutes with each person he sometimes struggles to remember their exact appearance, probably fudging all their hair and eye colours. Except Derek’s, whose eyes are probably the most distinctive feature that Stiles’ brain presents him when he makes it to contestant number 12.

Stiles sighs out and rolls onto his side again, hoping the change in position will encourage sleep on faster. But who is he kidding. He just met his future husband (he hopes). His brain can’t shut up. So he resorts to a favourite pastime for channelling his thoughts – making lists.

He starts with easy things like putting the 12 guys into alphabetical order by surname. He tries to go by age next but realises he only asked the age of 5 of the contestants. So he moves on to best first impression, overall nicest, most interesting to talk to, best smile, and most want to talk to again. The tops of those lists are Jackson, Jordan, Isaac, Derek and Derek again.

He then lets himself spend a gross amount of time ranking them in order of sexiness and after a heated discussion between his brain and his dick decides to call it a three-way tie between Isaac, Jackson and Derek with honourable mentions to Jordan and Garrett.

Stiles’ late-night pre-sleep brain latches onto the term 'three-way' and it's varied potentials and all his list making gets put aside for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it has taken me so long to update. I had intended to include the scavenger hunt in this chapter but I haven’t finished it yet and didn’t want to keep you guys waiting _even longer_ for more of this story. 
> 
> So next chapter – the scavenger hunt (be prepared for tropes, references and shirtless men).
> 
> If you have any suggestions for games/questions/trivia that could feature in the next chapter [**message me on tumblr**](http://whatthehellisawinchester.tumblr.com).


	5. The Scavenger Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 12 contestants compete in a scavenger hunt to win a one-on-one date with Stiles.

“SCAVENGER HUNT DAY!” Kira launches herself onto Stiles’ bed and bounces up and down until he moves. Thankfully Stiles is expecting it by now and rolls himself onto the floor before her knees manage to dig into some very sensitive parts of him.

“I’m up! I’m up.”

“Looks like you’re down actually.”

“Semantics.”

She leaves to let him shower and change and then the whole crew has breakfast together, making sure Stiles knows his duty for the day. It’s very simple. Basically he hangs around downstairs while all the contestants race around completing the scavenger hunt. Stiles is very onboard with that. He gets to spend most of the day chatting with Allison – she’s been Skyping with Scott every other day so he’s looking forward to grilling her about it – and ogle the contestants.

He’s looking forward to that last part more so. Most of the other segments they’ve done during the week haven’t given him much opportunity to. Lots of those traditional dating show games with questions and answers and distance between him and the 12 guys. But today he can just look without having to focus on answering questions and listening to answers. And then in a few days he sends home 4 of the contestants and the show shifts format a bit so he gets to just spend time hanging out with the remaining 8 guys. 

He’s really looking forward to it. Lydia and Allison and the rest of the crew are all awesome, and he was right that he’d warm up to the twins, but the show is their job and often times he has to amuse himself. He’s gotten through so much TV it’s ridiculous.

It also means that he has lots of free time to Skype with his mother which he’s grateful for. It helps Stiles not miss her so much and gives him a good sounding board for his opinions on the 12 guys. Although his mother is trying to reign in her opinions for his sake, Stiles can read her easily enough and has gotten a fairly good sense of who she likes.

The clues for the scavenger hunt had been hidden around the house earlier in the morning so after breakfast everyone heads downstairs to where the twins have corralled all the contestants into the dining room quarter of the rumpus room.

Stiles is happy to see that most of them look excited for the scavenger hunt, although he senses some disdain from Ennis and Matt. But Isaac’s (surprising) open enthusiasm counters it.

Allison describes the challenge to the guys which is just series of small tasks which have to be completed in chronological order. The members of the winning team will each get a one-on-one dinner date with Stiles.

After she goes over the boring logistical stuff – which areas of the house the clues have been placed in, how the clues are colour coded to the teams, how each team has a specific camera person they need to stick with – she hands over the conclusion to Stiles.

“Uh right. Thanks Allison. So I’ll be hanging around in this downstairs area while you do the challenge. If you’re struggling with a clue you can ask me questions – I wrote most of them, so yeah, I’m good to help out – _but_ you can only ask 3 questions per team and each time you do you’ll have a penalty of 3 minutes added to your end time so I’d recommend not doing it unless you have to. Ok what else... No cheating off watching the other teams. Malia, Liam, Danny and Braeden will be watching you.” Stiles claps his hands together in front of him. He can feel excitement building up inside him and lets his smile show that. Well he hopes it shows that and not something more like craziness. “So that’s everything. I’m actually stupidly looking forward to watching you guys all do this.”

“Me too.” Allison picks up. “First clues can be found on the table in front of you. Pick the one matching your team’s colour. Ready, set, GO!”

Stiles looks over the 4 groups, all who had been paying him careful attention during his speech, now burst into frantic energy as they snatch up the envelopes from the table and tear them open. 

He missed them choosing their own teams but now that they’ve split into different areas to read the first clue he can see who’s with who. Stiles could have guessed the way they formed up. Perhaps the only surprise is that Greenberg has wound up with Ennis and Jackson but judging by the way they’re standing slightly apart no-one’s really happy with that. 

Stiles tracks his eyes over to the blue group that Malia will be filming. Derek, Jordan and Isaac. If he’s being totally honest with himself – and why shouldn’t he be, this show encourages a bit of selfishness in him – he’s hoping they’ll win. Not that the other groups don’t have guys he’d like to get to know better, but this is the only one with all three. 

The first clue is the easiest and they gradually get harder with tricker logic puzzles and more specific pop-culture referencing (most of the latter were Stiles’ personal amendments to the challenge – after all, if they can’t keep up with his Star Wars references then they’re not going to work out). 

The green team figures the first clue out first and runs out to the garden where the second clue is, the others all following within the minute. The teams are meant to check after each clue with their camera person to make sure they’re doing them in order.

“Well, shall we?”

Stiles follows Allison out to the wooden table and chairs where they can watch the teams moving about the garden. 

-

“This will be just like my geocaching days.” Derek turns to Isaac in surprise and sees Jordan do the same.

“You did geocaching?” Isaac shrugs at his reveal. “Well, I guess you’ll be good to have on the team.”

“Why did you choose me in the first place then?” Isaac challenges Jordan, eyebrows raised and smirk firmly on.

“Guys. Come on.” Derek admonishes, reading the first clue through for a third time. “Look, I think the next clue’s outside near the hammocks.” He passes the blue paper over and waits for Isaac and Jordan to read through it.

“Yeah I think you’re right. That Garden of Eden line, Stiles said something just like that to me the other day.”

“Ok then, what are we waiting for?” Isaac leads the way out into the backyard and to the back corner with the hammocks. There’s another team already there when Derek and Jordan catch up with Isaac but they seem to be having trouble finding their next clue.

“Was there a specific place we should be looking?” Isaac asks, already rummaging around in the foliage of the trees. Derek joins in while Jordan reads over the clue again, a look of intense concentration on his face.

“Nothing here that I can see.”

“I didn’t pick up on anything either.” Derek adds, kneeling down to look closer around the roots.

“Maybe we’re over thinking this...” Jordan murmurs, close enough to Derek that he can hear. He could be right. The first clue is probably supposed to be the easiest.

The other two teams are also in the hammock area by this stage and Derek can feel a sense of urgency building in him.

Although he didn’t say anything to Laura about it a few nights ago when they talked, Derek has been feeling a shift in his intentions. He still wants to do well so he can help support Laura and her baby, but the other side of the equation... dating Stiles is growing more and more appealing to him as the days go on.

Jordan comes up to tap him on the shoulder. 

“I’ve got it.” Jordan says under his breath. “Come on.”

Derek straightens up and wipes his hands on his pants, jerking his head when Isaac catches his eye. “Where was it?” He leans close to Jordan so the other teams can’t overhear.

“In the blue hammock.”

Isaac snorts next to him. “Figures. Guess you were right about the first clue being easy.”

-

Stiles can’t see any of the contestants from his vantage point as the trees surrounding the hammock area block them from view. So he moves to the next order of business on his list. Turning to face Allison, he waits until she notices his stare. She blinks a few times then shrugs her shoulders at him.

“What?”

“A little birdie told me that you and Scott are getting along well.”

Allison blushes obviously and ducks her head before sighing. “Would that little bird be called Scott by any chance?”

“Yep.” Stiles is impressed that she knows that much about Scott already to guess it was him. 

Allison shakes her head but the gesture is fond. “I kind of figured he’d tell you.”

“Does that bother you?”

“No. I like that you guys are so close. Reminds me of me and Lydia actually. But we’re just talking. Scott and I. It’s not, I mean, we’re just getting to know each other a bit, it’s not whatever you probably think it is.”

“Suuure.” Stiles draws out the word slowly but doesn’t push her. It’s kind of obvious that they’re going to get together eventually anyway. After all their years of friendship, Scott is an easy read to Stiles and he’s been trying to bring Allison up in most of their Skype chats for that sole purpose. 

“Who do you want to win?” Allison not-so-subtly tries to shift the conversation. Stiles is going to roll with it though, good friend that he is.

“Honestly, the blue team.”

“I can see that.” Allison’s reply is immediate.

“What. Am I being obvious or something?”

“No, but I’ve probably got the best insight into your mind because I do all the post-segment interviews with you, so it’s more obvious _to me_. Plus Scott may have told me a few things.” 

“Trust.” Stiles rolls his eyes.

Allison shuffles in her seat then looks to where the aforementioned blue team has been the first to come out of the hammock area. Stiles takes a moment to feel happy about that before reminding himself not to get too far ahead. It’s only the second clue after all.

“Blue team is Jordan, Derek and Isaac. First off, they’re all very attractive and I know you think so.” Stiles flashes back to the ‘3 things’ game he’d played with Allison. Yeah, that’s definitely not a secret. “Jordan’s got a connection with your dad and I think you associate with him more strongly than some of the other guys because he was your first interview. Maybe there’s a sense of familiarity between you or something. 

“Judging by your immediate reaction to Isaac – your first meeting was probably my favourite fyi, you were adorable,” Stiles huffs and folds his arms over his chest, “he got under your skin and has stayed there. You probably have the most _obvious_ reaction to him, if that’s something you’re worried about. Do you know you basically blush whenever the two of you make eye contact?” Stiles would believe that. His brain is very, very fond of remembering Isaac’s smirk and his stupidly distracting comment about calling him professor. “And Derek....”

Allison trails off and tilts her head a little, seeming to give her response a lot of thought. 

“Derek what?” Stiles prompts, feeling his heartbeat pick up.

“I don’t know what exactly.” Allison looks between Stiles and Derek, who is now kneeling with Jordan and Isaac on the grass as they put together a word puzzle Lydia created. “There just seems to be _something_ there, some kind of connection. He’s not as brazen of a competitor as some of the other guys, but he seems really intuitive and kind of crafty about it. But like in a good way, like he’s paying attention to you and trying to make sure he’s going to be here right to the end.”

“I’m not sure if that’s flattering or not.” 

“I’d go with flattering. I mean, I had to watch all the contestant’s audition tapes and I’ve looked over their personality quizzes and things and he seems a really genuine kind of guy.”

“Yeah. I get that sense from Derek too.” Stiles isn’t sure whether Derek has amazing hearing or if it’s just chance, but he looks up as Stiles speaks and holds eye contact with him for several seconds before looking back down.

Stiles keeps his eyes on him though, only stopping when Allison laughs softly besides him. Stiles flushes.

“Shut up.” Allison just smiles at him with her mocking dimples. “Besides, Derek hasn’t won any of the game segments we’ve done this week. He can’t have been paying as much attention to me as you say he is.”

“Well I don’t think that’s his strategy though, to just try and pander to you. I mean obviously a little bit, but that’s why I said earlier he was genuine. I think he’s seriously trying to just present his true self to you, his best self. Plus he may not be winning but he’s top 5 in every single compatibility game we’ve played. And if I’m right about Derek trying to be himself, maybe that’s more telling.”

“You mean like we’re compatible but not so the same that a relationship would be boring?”

“Yes.” Allison smiles, dimples on show but not so mocking anymore. “Exactly.”

Stiles nods, impressed – and slightly scared – by Allison’s accuracy.

They’re basically his feelings exactly. Stiles feels comfortable around Jordan, like they’re on the same social playing field. He still feels a sense of competition with Isaac ever since their first meeting (and his dreams are quite fond of remembering his smirk). And Derek, well, Allison has hit that one of the head. The thing is (because Stiles has spent quite a bit of time contemplating Derek) he possibly shouldn’t be so enthralling to Stiles. He’s interesting, intelligent, attractive, kind, funny.... but so are most of the other contestants. Stiles can’t deny though that there’s something between them. 

He likes searching for Derek’s green-blue-gold eyes amongst the other contestants’, he can recognise him just from a single feature, Scott is eager to inform him he talks about Derek more than any of the other competitors (and winks whenever he points it out to which Stiles normally retaliates by bringing up Allison). Stiles’ brain likes to remind him of their first meeting when he apologised when their time was up and Derek looked like he wanted to as well. And all that’s disregarding that Derek is the one who is most frequently in his dreams.

So yeah, he wants the blue team to win.

“Speak of the devils.” Stiles’ reverie is broken by Allison. He looks up to see Derek, Jordan and Isaac walking towards him. He coughs a few times and sits up straight in his seat, seeing Allison give him a look out of the corner of his eye. He kicks her under the table and she puts on her host smile and turns back to the guys.

“Hi guys. Here to ask Stiles a question?”

“Yes.” Jordan and Isaac say in unison.

“A little early in the game isn’t it?” Stiles teases, trying not to focus his entire attention on Derek and their supposed ‘something’. But then he speaks and Stiles can’t _not_ pay him any attention, so he turns his eyes to Derek’s.

“None of us have a great depth of knowledge about the DC comics.” Stiles doesn’t feel as disappointed by this revelation as he normally is when partners tell him this. Maybe it’s because he isn’t actually dating any of the three of them. Or maybe he’s grown as a person. Or maybe they are all worthy enough without matching Stiles in that particularly hobby.

“We figured why waste time on something we know we’re going to struggle with.” Stiles nods at Jordan.

“So what’s the answer?” Isaac places the paper clue in front of Stiles so he can read it. Not that he needs to but it’s a nice gesture.

“Ok, so this question has two parts. First, you’re meant to figure out who the two characters are and then the second part refers to a specific storyline between them and basically you’re meant to figure out which part of the-“

“Stiles.” Allison gently interrupts. 

“Oh right. Sorry.” He looks up at Isaac, Jordan and Derek, eyes flicking between them. “The answer is running. So I’d go look at the treadmills in the gym.”

“Great. Thanks.” Derek gives him a grateful smile, as does Jordan who retrieves the clue from the table and follows after Derek and Isaac, the latter who rushed off the second Stiles gave them the answer, although not before smiling and winking at him.

Stiles watches them rush back inside the house, Malia following close behind them.

“Shock horror.” Allison begins, turning to Stiles and widening her eyes comically, pressing a hand over her heart. “They don’t know DC! Aren’t you heartbroken at that?”

“They said they didn’t have a depth of knowledge, not that they didn’t know anything. And no, I’m not heartbroken.”

Allison just shrugs then after surveying Stiles and settles back in to watch the other three teams also struggling with the comic book question. In the end, they all fold and come up to ask him. At least Stiles knows now that comic book knowledge isn’t something he can differentiate the 12 guys by.

-

The scavenger hunt, while incredibly fun, is a little on the gruelling side. No consecutive clues seems to be in the same room which means Derek, Isaac and Jordan have run (yes run, because Isaac has been surprisingly enthusiastic about the game – not that Derek is complaining, he really wants that extra alone time with Stiles) from the rumpus room to outside to the gym to outside again then back to the gym, then to the path around the house and then Derek can’t remember exactly where. The last few clues though have all been inside the main rumpus room which Derek can’t help but think means they’re near the end of the game, the clues ensuring all the teams eventually wind up in the same space. Possibly it’s for drama on camera but Derek doesn’t really know anything about that so he can’t be sure.

Although their team is clearly in the lead, with everyone in the rumpus room Derek can feel himself becoming more and more pressured as he sees the other guys frantically moving around the room and holding intense whispered discussions around him.

He, Isaac and Jordan are currently bent over the kitchen island, reading over what Jordan informs them is the nineteenth clue, which they found rolled up inside an egg carton in the kitchen (apparently Stiles is a big fan of breakfast foods, something Derek has filed away for later use).

“I- I don’t believe it.”

“What? What is it?” Isaac pesters, moving around the kitchen island to stand next to Derek.

“Well, if I’ve got this right,” he begins, “the next clue is at the pool.”

“At the pool or in the pool?” Jordan asks.

“In.”

Isaac takes a second to think it over, then shakes his head and laughs. “That cocky bastard.” 

“And I guess it’s not something we can just reach with a leaf scoop?” Jordan raises the sensible question.

“Won’t know until we go out there I guess.”

“We’re on a reality dating show,” Isaac rolls his eyes, “I think we’re going to need to get wet.”

“Ok. That’s not too bad, and if it gets us more time with Stiles then I’m in.” Jordan turns to Derek. “You’re sure about it?”

“Yes.” Derek’s been triple-checking the clue and it can’t be anything else. “Nothing for it I guess.”

The trio walk over to the pool area, leaving behind the other teams in the house, and stare into the water. From the edge near the shallow Derek can see four dark shapes sunk to the bottom at the far end. It is eerily reminiscent of the second task of the Triwizard Tournament which is where the clue was derived from.

“Shirts on or off?” Jordan asks as Isaac is already stripping. “Off it is.”

Derek removes his t-shirt and throws it off to the side somewhere before toeing his shoes off and diving in after Isaac and Jordan. The shape turns out to be a clear plastic container with the next clue inside it. It’s somehow adhered strongly to the bottom of the pool and does actually take all three of them trying in turns to pry it off before the blue tinted box can be moved.

When Derek resurfaces with the container in hand he sees that Stiles and Allison have stopped their conversation to turn and watch them. He holds the box above his head and shoots a victorious smile at them both. Allison gives him a thumbs up Stiles is very obviously looking at his chest.

Derek feels himself flush under the attention. He’s not embarrassed by it – thank you Laura for making him work out more pre-show – but knowing that Stiles is seeing him sans shirt for the first time is a bit of a rush.

“Oi. Derek.” A splash or water from Isaac jolts Derek back to awareness. He must have spaced out looking at Stiles just as much in return. This time the flush _is_ caused by embarrassment.

He tosses the box to Jordan who is already out and standing on the paved area surrounding the pool, then levers himself up after splashing Isaac back. He grabs a towel from the pool fence and dries off as Jordan opens the container and pulls out a single card with writing on it. It reads like a poem.

“Wait, hang on. I think this is the last clue.”

“What?”

“Yeah, look here,” Jordan points to the 3rd line of the stanza. “It’s Stiles, right? The ‘object of desire’. It’s Stiles.”

Derek re-reads the riddle then nods at Jordan. Now that he knows the answer it’s staggeringly clear as to what the passage is referring to. Beside him, Isaac throws his head back and laughs, causing droplets of water to splash across Derek’s face.

“You know, it’s exactly how I’d play it if I was making this scavenger hunt. Make all the contestants go in the pool then have them come to you all dripping wet and most probably shirtless.”

The three guys turn to look at Stiles who is either legitimately distracted – which he might be because another team have finally come outside as well – or he is very studiously ignoring Derek, Jordan and Isaac. Maybe trying not to give away that he’s the end of the scavenger hunt.

“Shall we get Stiles then?” Isaac turns to them with a smirk which Derek matches with one of his own.

“I think so.”

The trio head over the Stiles who actually does seems to be in a heated discussion with Allison because when he turns around after Jordan coughs he does a very impressive double-take and his eyes go impossibly wide, cheeks flushing red.

“Hi again.” Allison says brightly, looking them in the eyes unlike Stiles who is busy flicking his attention back and forth between all their torsos.

“Hi.” Jordan says. “We, uh, think we’ve finished the scavenger hunt?”

Derek keeps watching Stiles, buoyed to note that he’s spending more time checking him out than either Isaac or Jordan. He tries clenching his stomach to see Stiles’ reaction and almost laughs when he sees him swallowing obviously.

“Did you check with Malia?”

“Nope.” Isaac says smugly. “We decided we’d prefer to check with Stiles.”

Allison turns to Stiles and elbows him unsubtly in the ribs.

“Yes. Hi. Hello.” Stiles eyes finally lock onto Derek’s.

“We’re here to complete the scavenger hunt.”

“Uh-huh.” Stiles nods, breaking Derek’s gaze to flick back to his chest for a fraction of second. “Why.”

“Because the last clue leads to you.” Isaac points out, crossing him arms and accentuating his muscles. “You’re the prize.”

Stiles smiles broadly at that.

“Well done. You’re right.” Allison says, standing up to take the final clue from them and writing down their finish time on the back of it.

Stiles stands up with her.

“I am really glad your team won. I was hoping you would from the start.” Stiles quickly turns around to look over his shoulder. “Um, I maybe shouldn’t have said that?”

“We don’t mind.” Jordan says kindly.

“Oh good. I hope the other teams didn’t hear that though.”

Derek shares a look with Isaac and when Stiles turns his head to look back into the house they both take a step forward so they’re just a few inches away from Stiles. Jordan figures out what they’re doing and steps forward too. Meanwhile, Allison has retreated and gone inside to say something to the other teams.

“Woah, what are- what are you doing?” Stiles tries to take a step back but he’s right against the table so doesn’t get far. 

Isaac moves first, dragging Stiles away from the edge of the table and back against his chest. Stiles stumbled a little and Derek steadies him by pressing his front right up against Stiles, while Jordan comes in from the side.

“Oh my god!” Stiles practically squeals.

Derek and the other two laugh and Isaac moves his hand from where it’s squashed between Derek and Stiles to ruffle Stiles hair.

“What, Isaac! Stop it! Oh god you’re making me all wet.” Isaac whispers something in Stiles' ear that Derek can’t hear but Jordan can judging by the way he lets out a bark of laughter.

“Not like that Isaac. Ah ah, very cold and very wet.” Stiles struggles fruitlessly against Derek’s body and Derek lets himself enjoy the feel of it, in particular the hand which has come to rest just over his collar bone, Stiles' fingers pressing hard into his skin.

Eventually Stiles just goes limp in between them and Derek takes that as his signal to back off, though not before taking the opportunity to trace imaginary lines between Stiles’ moles with his eyes.

Stiles' shirt is soaked through in patches when he, Isaac and Jordan pull back and Stiles tugs at it which only makes it snap back tighter against his chest. Derek looks his fill just like Stiles had earlier.

Allison comes back out of the rumpus room as the four of them are moving to sit around the outdoor table.

“Well, congratulations guys. Enough time has passed that you are officially the winners of the challenge.”

Derek smiles as it hits him. They did it, they won the challenge. That means that either tomorrow night, or one of the two nights after, Derek is going to get to have a proper date with Stiles.

-

Derek’s alarm goes off early the morning after the scavenger hunt and he rolls over sloppily to paw at his bedside table, trying to shut it off. He rubs the sleep from his eyes then sighs before tossing off the sheets and grabbing his bag of laundry, not bothering to change from his trackpants and thin sleeping top.

He normally has a morning shower but after diving in the pool yesterday for the scavenger hunt he couldn’t deal with going to bed reeking of chlorine, so he’d had one last night. It means that this morning he has time to wash out his chlorine soaked clothes.

The laundry room is off the end of the hallway where the bedrooms are and Derek is confident it will be empty, but as he opens the door and walks in he can hear someone whistling from the back corner, hidden from sight by two large clothes dryers.

“Snow White? Really?” Derek inquires, recognising the song.

The whistling quickly shuts off and is followed by a muttered swear word.

“Hey, no judgement. It’s a classic.”

Derek almost drops the top he was about to throw into a washing machine as a slightly guilty looking figure pops their head out from behind the dryers.

“Stiles? What are you doing here?”

Stiles steps out fully and runs a hand through his hair.

“Uh, Hi Derek.”

Derek realises he hasn’t been moving and quickly makes to shove his top into the washing machine. He is suddenly feeling very exposed in his pyjamas, but how was he to know Stiles would be down here?

“Hi Stiles. Sorry. You just took me by surprise is all.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“No, no. You don’t need to apologise.”

This conversation was just going great. Derek’s never been a strong morning conversationalist but his chance meeting with Stiles has definitely woken him up more than he was a few minutes ago. It’s actually a great opportunity to just talk to Stiles without the cameras and the games; to have an honest conversation.

Derek quickly sets the washing machine and turns it on, then faces Stiles and offers him a smile. He hopes he can bring their conversation back on track.

“So, why are you down here?”

“Oh well, honestly, I’m kinda hiding from Kira.”

“Ok.” Derek nods and then moves around the table in the middle of the room to sit on its edge, bringing him closer to Stiles. Up close, Derek assumes Stiles must not have been up long either. His hair is particularly (wonderfully) mussed and his cheek still has the faint imprint of sheets. It’s a good look on him. But then again, Derek is yet to see a bad look on Stiles.

Derek clears his throat as Stiles frowns at him then switches to a smile and hops up to sit on the table with him, though far enough away that Derek can’t see the sheet marks from the new angle.

“We played Trivial Pursuit yesterday and I won and Kira thinks I cheated.”

“Did you?”

“What! No!” Stiles flays his hands at that and nearly clocks Derek across the face, looking guilty when Derek is forced to shift back and then shoving his hands between his legs.

“I wasn’t accusing you Stiles. From what I’ve gathered, you’re pretty knowledgeable. I’m sure you won fair and square.” Derek smiles at Stiles and is pleased to get one in return.

“Yes, thank you.” 

Stiles locks eyes with Derek and holds his gaze for a few moments, just long enough for Derek to feel his stomach swoop.

“So I have to ask, the pool thing?”

“Ah, yeah.” Stiles looks away from Derek and runs his hand through his hair again while Derek eagerly watches the locks rearrange themselves under his fingers, half wishing they were his own hands. Maybe if their dinner date goes well they could be. “In my defence, that particular component was all Allison and Lydia’s design. I just didn’t, you know, object to it.” Stiles shoots Derek a guilty look and Derek laughs softly.

“It’s fine. We all agreed we’d probably have done the same thing in your position. Besides, what person who applied to be part of a reality show isn’t a little bit narcissistic.”

Stiles looks grateful for Derek’s reassurance and Derek congratulates himself on overcoming his lack of morning loquaciousness. 

“I actually wanted to put some sharks in the pool and have you guys fight them.”

“What. Why?”

“Because I am deathly scared of sharks and it would be good to know that any potential boyfriends could fight one off if the need arises.”

“That makes sense in a strange way. I’m glad it didn’t happen though.”

“Don’t tell me you’re scared of sharks too. I may have to kick you off the show.” Derek assumes that Stiles is joking but thinks he can hear a note of seriousness in his tone too.

“Sharks I’m fine with. Snakes are my kryptonite.”

Stiles nods seriously. “I respect that. Animals without legs are creepy.”

“And Snow White?” Derek asks, smiling at Stiles and watching Stiles’ smile melt to something warmer.

“It’s my mum’s favourite Disney film. She sings it whenever she does the housework.”

“Well it is a classic.”

“That’s what she says. Although, she is also quite fond of The Black Cauldron so...” Stiles shrugs and looks away to watch Derek’s clothes cycle through the washing machine. Derek tries not to think too hard about the several pairs of his underwear on display.

“Is that the one with the skeleton army and a magical pig?”

Stiles laughs and throws his head back. “You know it?”

“Not as much as pretty much any other Disney film, but I consider myself a Disney expert.”

“Is that so?” Stiles looks at him challengingly. “So do I”

“Up for a game then?” Derek raises an eyebrow at Stiles and leans in close to him.

“You’re on.” Stiles meets his challenge eagerly, leaning forward as well. Derek stares at Stiles, trying not to blink and break the moment. He eventually relents after feeling the urge to flick his eyes down to Stiles’ lips.

“Ok, how about 5 Disney trivia questions each.” Derek straightens up and leans back on the table against his hands, Stiles matching his position. “If I win, you guarantee not to get rid of me at the upcoming elimination. And if you win, you can... ah... I don’t know. I suck at wagers. What do you want?”

“A kiss.”

-

Stiles possibly should not have blurted out the first thing that came into his head. In his defence, he’s only been up for about 20 minutes (without coffee) and Derek is very disarming in his pyjamas with sleep ruffled hair and a morning smile. And talking about Disney movies.

But still.

Stiles can almost feel the palm to the back of his head his mother will surely give him if she ever finds out about this.

Derek looks a little shell shocked. Unblinking and mouth slightly parted which is not helping Stiles’ resolve to take back the kiss suggestion. He should probably try though. He doesn’t want to force Derek into something he doesn’t want to do. That is very unsexy.

“Sorry, that was stupid. I can think of something new.”

Derek animates as that, tossing his head slightly before smiling at Stiles. “No, it’s fine. To be honest, I’ve been thinking about kissing you since our first meeting.”

Stiles feels his cheeks heat up and remembers back to their first meeting, seeing Derek keep glancing down to his lips throughout their interview.

“Ah, I could kind of tell.”

It’s Derek’s turn to blush now, ducking his head and scratching at his stubble. He mumbles something down to his feet.

“What was that?”

Derek sighs and lifts his head up.

“I thought I was being subtle.”

“You probably were,” Stiles assures him, “I was just probably paying you too much attention.”

“Good.” Derek smiles easily at him, seemingly having overcome his embarrassment. Something occurs to Stiles then.

“Hang on, if you _want_ to kiss me, it’s not much of a hardship for you to lose, is it. How do I know you won’t throw the game?” Derek keeps smiling as he answers.

“Because staying on the show and getting the chance to date you properly is the better reward. And if things go well with that, I’ll end up kissing you anyway. I don’t mind being patient.”

“Fair point.” Stiles stomach gives a little flip. He appreciates Derek’s honestly with his intentions, makes this whole ordeal so much easier for him if he’s actually sure of how invested the guys are in the potential to have a relationship with him. “Let’s begin then. Who wrote the music for The Little Mermaid?”

Derek rolls his eyes. “Starting easy are we? Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Which was released first, Peter Pan or Lady and the Tramp?”

“Peter Pan.” Stiles says with 84% certainty after thinking it over for a few seconds.

It turns out that Derek wasn’t lying earlier when he called himself a Disney expert and Stiles blows his chance to win on the assumption that Derek won’t be up to date on his Disney films. Turns out he’s a big fan of Big Hero 6 which Stiles in hindsight could have guessed, what with the engineering links. 

He’s not terribly upset though because now he knows that Derek is 100% going to be going further in the competition. An improvement from Stiles 98% surety on it yesterday. (What can he say, ever since Allison pointed out the ‘something’ between them Stiles swears he can feel it like a phantom limb every damn time he’s near Derek. He wasn’t going to kick the guy off.)

Hopefully this means Derek won’t be trying so hard to impress on their dinner date. Not that Derek would have anyway, but still. It takes some stress off for both of them Stiles thinks.

Stiles tries not to watch too closely as Derek moves his clothes from the washer to the dryer but it’s a lost cause really. Firstly, Derek’s trackpants are very fitted across his ass and secondly, he wants the answer to the all important boxers-or-briefs question. It’s briefs. 

He does eventually have to head back upstairs so the crew don’t get too worried by his absence. He ends up apologising to Derek like on their first meeting again but Derek just shrugs at Stiles and offers him a smile.

“Thanks for keeping me company though. Even if it was unintentional on your part.”

“Not entirely unintentional. I could have left. I don’t normally sit here for an hour and watch my clothes go around in the washer Stiles.”

“That is very true. Ok, well, I’ll see you later I guess.” Stiles gives Derek a jolty wave and heads out the side door which opens to the side path which he follows back around to the front of the house and then heads upstairs.

When he enters the rumpus room Lydia looks up from where she’s been studying an assortment of papers scattered across the kitchen island, much to the chagrin of Liam if the way he’s cramped into a corner of bench space and aggressively chopping bacon is anything to go by.

“Where have you been?” The narrowed eyes let him know she isn’t very impressed with him.

“Oh you know, just around.” Stiles waves his hands a little then laces them together behind his back to prevent further embarrassment.

“Ok.” Lydia says eventually, softening her expression and smiling at Stiles. If he didn’t know any better he’d say is was ‘knowledgeable’, but he doesn’t know about what. “Just make sure you don’t miss your pre-dinner date talk with Allison.”

“Ok will do. Yes. Thank you.” Stiles rushes the words out, glad to not be interrogated, and then retreats to his room to continue hiding from Kira, which turns out to not work so well because she’s hiding in his walk in wardrobe and scares the living crap out of him when she jumps out just as he’s about to strip out of his pants and take a shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, sorry that it has taken me so long to update this. I have no legit excuse, I just got distracted  
> a) writing a [sterek soulmates au fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3700565) **  
> **  
> b) adding to my[dydia friends-with-benefits au gifsets](http://whatthehellisawinchester.tumblr.com/tagged/dydia+au/chrono) **on tumblr  
> **
> 
> Thank you though for keeping up with this/finding it for the first time and deciding to read.
> 
> I've been getting a lot of requests for more of my soulmates au story and I am very keen to write more. So from now on I'll probably be alternating between writing a chapter of this and a chapter of that.
> 
> Thank you very much for everything. Reading, leaving kudos and comments, subscribing, bookmarking, everything. It makes me very happy :D


	6. Dinner Dates and Eliminations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles has his dates with the scavenger hunt winners.
> 
> Stiles sends 4 contestants home in elimination #1

“So how was your dinner date with Jordan?”

“Yeah, good. Really nice. It was, like, a solid date thing.”

“Wow. Glowing praise.” 

“Shut up Scott.”

Scott pokes his tongue out and resumes eating whatever it is he’s eating. Stiles can’t see it properly over Skype.

Last night he had his first of three dinner dates with the winners of the scavenger hunt. 

Stiles has been both excited and nervous about them because the contestants are in charge of the entire evening. They choose everything including the food, the drinks, the location, even the time. Stiles likes a bit of spontaneity every now and then but he’s also big on doing his own planning for things that involve him.

Turns out he needn’t have worried though because Jordan was a complete gentleman.

Dinner was in the date room and the small table had been set simply with a chequered tablecloth and nice place settings. It was a simple meat and salad affair and he and Jordan spent their whole date talking, learning more about each other and swapping stories from their childhoods. It was really nice and Stiles relaxed easily into their conversation.

But Stiles realised last night, that was thing. It was all just _nice_ , and that isn’t what Stiles needs in his partner. There is obviously nothing wrong with feeling comfortable with someone, but Stiles needs other layers to his relationships. He wants that feeling of anticipation, thinking two steps ahead and filling his speech with hidden meanings. He likes feeling driven to play himself up a bit, stretch his neck out when he laughs, run his fingers across the rim of him glass, hold eye contact and feel the pressure building up inside his chest when the other person does the same. Stiles loves the tension that comes from being on the edge, waiting for some kind of signal about the other person’s intentions and feelings towards him.

Like when Derek looks down at his lips when they talk. 

“I’ve just,” Stiles bites his lip, bringing himself back to the present, feeling a little bit bad for what he’s about to say, “I’m just starting to see him more as a friend than anything else.”

Scott is silent for a moment and when Stiles glances back to his screen he can see Scott’s serious thinking face is on.

“Well, Stiles, you have to remember that this show is all about you finding someone who’s right for _you_. So don’t feel guilty if you’re realising Jordan isn’t it.”

Stiles sighs out and tugs at the sleeves of his t-shirt. 

“Yeah I get that but, he’s still really nice and pretty and he gets along well with everyone and eliminations are coming up and...”

“You don’t want to kick him out, do you?”

Stiles shakes his head, not wanting to say it out loud yet because he’s still not 100% sure. It’s just a feeling.

“Ok, well, obviously I have never been in your situation, but if you don’t eliminate him, isn’t that kind of like leading him on? Making him think he has a chance with you when you’re not interested in him that way?”

“Well, yeah, I guess. But I still, I don’t know Scott, it’s like, I still want to try with him. Maybe I’ll change my mind.” It comes out as a question.

“Ok well you’ve still got a few days to think about it and you haven’t had your other dates yet so... maybe just hold off making your decision right now.”

“Yeah, ok. Good idea.”

“How many people do you eliminate?” Scott, obviously attempting to move the conversation on to less serious topics, resumes his eating.

“4 guys.”

“Ok. That’s not so bad. You getting rid of that Ennis dude?”

“I thought you said I should hold off making my decision.”

“Yeah but he’s been your least favourite from the start so it’s a fair assumption he’s going, right?”

“You’ve never even met any of these people Scott! How are you so freakin’ knowledgeable! But yes, he’s the only one I’m sure on at this stage.”

“Cool. And who’s the date with tonight?”

“Isaac.” Stiles tries to deliver it flatly but fails judging by the way Scott immediately wiggles his eyebrows at him. “Shut up.”

“Didn’t say anything.” 

“Yeah well, your eyebrows did.” Scott wiggles them again and then winks at Stiles.

“I predict some heavy romancing in your future.”

“Ok well you’ve never met the guy so you’re probably wrong about that.”

“Sure Stiles. I’m wrong about Mr. Flirt wining and dining you by candlelight.”

“Yes! And I will gladly call you straight after the date tonight to tell you so.”

“Sure thing Stiles.”

“You are the worst.” Stiles logs off and shuts his laptop off, going for a shower before he meets Isaac for their date.

-

Turns out Scott has some kind of intuitive or psychic ability because ‘wining and dining by candlelight’ is pretty much exactly what happens on their dinner.

Isaac chooses to have it out in the secluded section of the backyard. The usual hammocks strung between the trees have been removed bar one that Stiles’ eyes immediately land on after Isaac has removed the blindfold he made him wear as they walked around from the front of the house to here.

After that Stiles takes in the small table laden with food and, yep, candles lit and flickering in multiple coloured jars.

It does look gorgeous and Stiles has to give it to Isaac, he knows how to set a scene.

“What do you think.” Isaac doesn’t ask so much, as demand of Stiles, hand resting firmly against his lower back.

“It’s amazing.” Stiles tells him honestly.

“Good. An amazing dinner for an amazing guy.”

Stiles blushes at that – dear god why does he always feel so innocent around Isaac – and lets himself be led to a chair that Isaac pulls back for him. Isaac takes the opportunity to run his fingers across Stiles’ shoulders before he moves off to his own seat.

Dinner conversation is less heavy on the flirting than Stiles had prepared himself for but he figures Isaac already did that bit on their first meeting and every moment since really, so he’s taking the opportunity to learn more about Stiles. And Stiles is learning more about him in turn which warms him up to Isaac more, hearing about how he grew up and how he ended up in teaching. Stiles mentions that his mother used to teach and when Isaac asks about her he hesitates for a few moments about whether he should tell Isaac about the cancer. 

He doesn’t in the end, feeling that the mood isn’t quite right and not yet completely comfortable with the idea of one of the contestants knowing and possibly treating him differently for it.

“Are you cold?” Isaac asks with apparent concern after they’ve finished dessert – chocolate dipped strawberries, he’s going to have listen to Scott’s ‘I told you so’ – but Stiles can see a teasing glint in his eyes.

“A little.”

“Come on.” Isaac stands up and smiles, moving round to offer Stiles his outstretched hand. Stiles looks up into Isaac’s eyes to try and read his intentions but they’re hard to read, so he places his hand in Isaac’s and allows himself to be pulled up.

It comes as no surprise to Stiles when Isaac pulls him gently over to the one hammock still strung up between the trees. Isaac gets in first and so when Stiles follows, shoring himself up first, he ends up falling half on top of the other man who simply wraps an arm around his middle to keep him there.

“Well,” Stiles says after settling, “it’s certainly warmer.”

“Good.” Isaac whispers against his ear and Stiles doesn’t shiver. Much.

-

The next morning, well technically it’s lunch by the time he wakes up after his date with Isaac, Stiles faces a lot of teasing from the crew. He’d forgotten about the whole cameras thing when he was on his date but now he’s being made fully aware of them again.

“I cannot believe you got in the hammock with him.” 

“The look on your face when he went to feed you those strawberries!”

“He’s still better than you at the flirting.”

“My personal favourite was when he went for the innuendo just as you were drinking your water and you nearly spat it out in his face. Very classy.”

“Ok guys!” Stiles interrupts after letting them have their fun for a few minutes. “Thank you for your kind feedback but I had a good time and so I’m just ignoring everything you say. What’s the deal for dinner tonight?” _Let’s move the conversation on,_ Stiles thinks.

“Derek has asked that you meet him in the kitchen here at 7. Dress casual.” Stiles blinks at Lydia. That was a bit different from the other two dates, where he’d been in button-up shirts and nice pants, but he’s all for it after the formality of the past two.

“Ok. Sounds good.”

He takes his lunch dishes over to the sink to rinse them out and Allison follows.

“Hey.” She grabs a glass from the cupboard and gets herself water from the fridge.

“Hey yourself.”

“I think you’re really going to like tonight’s date.”

Stiles smile and looks over at her. “Is that because it’s with Derek? Or because of what he has planned?”

Allison shrugs and gives him a innocent look, placing her glass into the drying rack and patting his arm as she disappears off somewhere with Lydia and the twins.

Stiles shakes his head and finishes off his dishes. He’s sure Allison is right about tonight. After all, it is Derek and Stiles is definitely aware of the potential between them. After running into him accidently in the laundry room a few days ago he’s been thinking quite a lot about what’s going to happen on their date. 

Stiles can’t forget about him foolishly bringing up the kissing thing with Derek and it’s putting a lot of thoughts into his mind. Not unpleasant ones, not at all. But he’s stupidly aware that this dating show still has months left of filming and he hasn’t even had the first elimination round yet and already he just keeps picturing kissing Derek over and over again.

He feels bad about the fate of the other contestants, being in the shadow of Derek, but not bad enough that he’s tried stopping himself ruminating on the idea of him Derek.

Stiles spends most of his afternoon pottering around in his room, tidying up what little disorder has crept there in the past few weeks, and writing an email back to his parents.

When his alarms goes off at 6 he heads to the shower to get ready for his date. Although he’s meant to dress casual, Stiles still spends about 15 minutes in the walk in wardrobe trying on different combinations of jeans and t-shirts before he goes for simple loose jeans and a plain, long-sleeved blue top. He admires himself in the full length mirror then startles when his phone alarm goes off again telling him it’s 7.

Time for his date.

As soon as he opens his bedroom door he can smell something amazing wafting from the kitchen. Cautiously he makes his way through the corridor toward the main area, trying to pick out what the smells are. Yeast he thinks. And tomato?

“Oh my god.” He stops just a few steps into the rumpus room, taking in the sight of Derek in a warm red t-shirt and tight jeans. Cooking. “You’re making me dinner?”

Derek turns and smiles at Stiles. He looks a little nervous and Stiles quickly resumes moving, heading to the kitchen.

“Sorry. Hi Derek. Probably should have started with that.”

“No problem. Hi Stiles. I’m making you dinner.”

Stiles comes to stand next to Derek, who is covered in flour from kneading a ball of dough on the kitchen island.

“Pizza?”

“Yeah. Hope that’s ok?”

“I love pizza. It’s great.”

“Good.” Derek smiles at him and holds his gaze for a moment before looking away and returning to his kneading. Stiles watching the muscles in his arms work, the sleeve of his t-shirt stretching around his biceps with every press down on the dough.

“Need any help?” _Because I need a distraction from your arms._

“I’m basically done with this now, but I thought we could each make our own pizza. Did you want to get the toppings out of the fridge?”

“Yeah, sure.” Stiles heads over and opens the door, grabbing various packets of meats, cheeses, olives and other random bits and pieces that he can fit in his arms just in case. 

He lets Derek roll out two rounds of pizza dough while he cuts up the meats into passable squares and grates a ton of mozzarella for the top, mumbling under his breath about muscle exertion when Derek politely points out that there should have been a pre-grated packet in the fridge.

Stiles nearly throws the cheese in the air in frustration and Derek laughs openly at it, eyes crinkling almost shut. That does actually cause Stiles to drop the mozzarella on the floor as his fingers go lax but Derek was right about the pre-grated packet so it’s not a total loss.

Stiles has fun ribbing Derek about putting pepperoni and anchovies on his pizza and is super pleased when Derek teases him right back about his beliefs on plain cheese pizza (it’s not real pizza, all people know that).

They do the few dishes they made while the pizzas cook and Stiles fights so hard not to blow soap bubbles into Derek’s hair, instead he calmly initiates conversation about Derek’s day and gets distracted imagining him lifting weights when Derek tells him he spent most of his morning in the gym before prepping for the date.

Stiles wrestles the fancy pizza cutter from Derek so he can slice both pizzas haphazardly and pile them onto plates which he then carries into the date room, Derek following him with drinks. Stiles makes sure to move his hips a lot, even though he’s wearing his baggy jeans.

“Oh good god.” Stiles moans out around his first bite. “This is the best pizza I’ve had in possibly my whole life ever.”

Derek blushes and looks away, taking his own more sedate bite.

“Is the dough a family recipe?” Derek shakes his head, still chewing. “So you’ll have no trouble giving the recipe to me then? I'd love to make this for my mum.”

Derek swallows and smiles at Stiles. “Sure, if you want it.”

“I definitely do want it.” Stiles speaks around a bite of pizza then realises he probably shouldn’t have. In his defense, his brain distracted him by substituting 'it' with 'you'.

“Sorry,” he says after he swallows, “I don’t seem to have good table manners tonight.”

“That’s okay. I like that you’re comfortable around me.” Derek gives Stiles a heavy look and Stiles watches as his eyes move down to look at his lips. He takes the opportunity to lick them and when Derek swallows in response he feels a flicker of heat in his chest.

“I hope you’re comfortable around me too.” Stiles offers.

“If I wasn’t, would I be barefoot right now?”

Stiles ducks his head under the table to look. “Huh. Didn’t notice before. Guess I was distracted.”

Derek gives him a look like he knows exactly what Stiles is hinting at and Stiles ghosts a wink at him before taking another bite of his pizza.

-

Derek waits until all the pizza is gone before suggesting he and Stiles move to the couch in the date room. Stiles agrees easily.

“Do you know anything about astronomy?” Stiles asks, curling his feet beneath him on the sofa and leaning his head toward the window. Derek appraises the taut lines of muscles on his throat before gazing out to the stars. They’re very bright out here, where the house is isolated and the light pollution isn’t horrible like in Derek’s neighbourhood.

“Absolutely nothing.”

“Shame.” Stiles moves back from the window, leaning against the arm rest. “I was hoping to sit here and listen to you wax poetic about the constellations while I stared at you instead of the stars.”

Derek’s heart flips over and he can feel his pulse thrumming under his fingertips.

“Well, if you want I can just look out the window anyway and pretend not to know you’re checking me out.”

“Please.” Derek isn’t convinced that Stiles is actually joking so stays admiring the stars for another few seconds for Stiles' benefit. When he settles back against his side of the coach Stiles looks a little pink on his cheeks and Derek is fairly certain his eyes snapped up from his thigh area.

“So.” Stiles nods slowly, obviously trying to pull attention from his appraisal of Derek’s body.

“So.”

Stiles chuckles softly and uncurls his feet, placing them almost under Derek’s legs on the couch cushion.

“Stiles. Seeing as we’re both so comfortable around each other, can I ask you a personal question? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want.”

“Go for it.”

Derek crosses his hands over each other on his lap. Stiles looks at him curiously, and nods when Derek doesn’t immediately speak. Derek doesn’t know why he’s bringing it up except that he can’t stop thinking about it and wondering. And maybe he wants to offer some advice and comfort to Stiles.

“Derek?”

He sighs and levers off from the back of the couch, moving closer to Stiles so he can watch his expression.

“I may be reading this wrong, but... you mother. Is everything ok with her?” Stiles reaction is immediate but small. He swallows hard and blinks a few times, eyes creasing a little around the edges.

“Why do you ask?” 

Derek wants to backtrack as soon as he hears Stiles' voice come out sharp and almost angry. He has the feeling though that Stiles won’t let him drop it.

“Every time you mention her, you look... sad. Resigned. I noticed it in our first meeting.” Derek watches as Stiles’ eyes lose their angry edge. “I’ve just been worrying about it I guess. About you. But, you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want. I know we’ve only known each other a few weeks.”

“No. It’s okay.” Stiles says softly, fingers rubbing against the sleeves of his t-shirt. They’re shaking slightly. Derek wants to reach out and hold them still for Stiles but doesn’t want to break whatever moment they’re having if that's a wrong move.

“If mum were here she’d probably encourage me to tell you anyway. Because I- I like you. And I _am_ comfortable around you.” Derek nods and lets Stiles’ take his time. He distracts himself by focusing on the thrumming in his fingertips, feeling each pulse of blood pound through him, his body aware somehow that something big is about to happen.

Derek thinks. He hopes.

“There are so many ways I could tell this story, but I’m going for the short version or I may start crying. Which I know isn’t a bad thing but I don’t want to do that in front of you quite this early. So.” Stiles takes a deep breath and looks directly into Derek’s eyes. He tries to hold himself as still as he possibly can. 

“I came on this show because my mother has always wanted to see me fall in love and get married. Her and dad have this really great relationship you know, and she wants that for me. But things just haven’t been working the normal way I guess." Stiles shrugs like he’s making light of the situation but Derek senses there’s more to the story. At least, that’s what his exaggerated pulse is telling him.

“So, here I am, on a reality dating show, because she has cancer.” Derek sucks in a breath, this time convinced his body is the absolute picture of stillness. Stiles' eyes are still boring into his own, clear and determined and despite his fears not even a little bit glassy. They haven't left Derek's own since he started talking, like this is all some kind of test, except that Derek can tell it's not. Stiles it 100% serious. 

“She has untreatable cancer and two years to live and I want _so much,_ ” Stiles punctuates his words with thuds of his palms to his knees, “for her to see her biggest hope for me come true.”

Derek doesn’t know what to say. In all his worrying about what Stiles was going through, this comes as a total shock.

“Stiles.” Derek chokes out and then stops, unsure of how to begin to comfort Stiles likes he wants to, needs to.

“I know.” He ducks his head to press it against the back of the couch and closes his eyes. 

Derek reaches out to... do something. Touch his shoulder, rub his arms, make some kind of contact.

“Can I-?” His fingers hesitate, outstretched.

Stiles rolls his head along the back of the couch, blinks up at Derek. “Please.” He whispers, and Derek wastes no time moving himself closer on the couch to Stiles and wrapping his arms around his body as best he can.

Stiles seems to physically relax under Derek’s touch and Derek slowly starts rubbing his palm up and down Stiles' back, feeling the ridges of his spine through the thin shirt, body soaking up Stiles’ warmth and trying to give it back tenfold. Without thinking about it too much he turns his face to press a gentle kiss to the top of Stiles’ head. Stiles sighs out at that, moving to bring one of his own hands around Derek’s torso and pull him closer.

Derek watches the tops of the trees outside moving in the breeze, silhouettes blocking out the stars, and keeps rubbing Stiles' back. He guesses almost eight minutes pass before Stiles speaks.

“I hope you don’t think I’ve told you this to guilt you into liking me more or something.”

“Of course not.” Derek replies immediately, squeezing Stiles tighter in his arms.

“Good.” Stiles says, then leans back. Derek reluctantly moves his arms from Stiles, pleased to see him looking fine as he pulls back.

“If it’s ok with you, I think I’d like to go to bed now.”

“Of course.” Stiles smiles at him and reaches out a hand to grasp his arm. “Thank you for everything tonight.”

“You’re welcome Stiles.” Derek replies with honesty, feeling his pulse jump under his arm where Stiles is touching him. 

He lets go and heads to the door. Derek watches him go, feeling his emotions jumbling around inside his stomach.

At the door Stiles turns back to face him and Derek has déjà vu to their first meeting when he’d done the same thing. He stands up from the couch but doesn’t move toward Stiles, unsure what’s about to happen. Has he changed his mind? If he going to swear Derek to secrecy about his mother?

“Next time you kiss me, it better not just be on the top of my head.”

Stiles walks out of the room with a sway of his hips, leaving Derek standing there, jaw dropped in surprise, ball of emotions inside him swelling with alarming ferocity.

“Stiles! Wait!” Derek doesn’t think, just rushes out of the date room, finding Stiles about to step through to the main rumpus room, one hand braced against the corridor wall and his eyebrows raised in a question.

Derek steps right into Stiles’ personal space.

“Can I?” He looks down at Stiles’ lips. Properly, like he hasn’t let himself before, making his intention clear.

“What are you waiting for?” Stiles whispers, leaning forward at the same time Derek goes to move.

Somehow it works without either of them leading, and their lips meet in a simple press, the only parts of their bodies touching. 

Derek holds it only a second or two before leaning away. Stiles stays leaned forward, eyes closed still. He sighs out softly then opens his eyes, looking up at Derek.

“Better than a kiss on the head. Good night Derek.”

“Night.” Derek watches Stiles walk away, all the way across the rumpus room and into a room in the far corridor.

Derek returns to the date room and slumps down on the couch, covering his face with his hands. He has a lot to think about now but Derek has an inkling of where it’s going to take him; caring even more for Stiles.

He stays slumped on the couch, unmoving, until Allison knocks gently on the doorframe and says he'd probably be more comfortable in his own room, "There's cameras here after all."

-

“So did you do the pizza thing?” Laura asks Derek as she takes a bite of a massive slice of pizza which looks to have both pepperoni and pineapple on it. Derek shudders at the thought and pushes the laptop slightly further back on the desk in his room as if that will help keep the pizza away from him, even though it’s already back in his apartment with Laura and can’t be transported over Skype.

He doesn’t necessarily want to admit it, although he supposes it isn’t really a bad thing, but he had workshopped his dinner date idea with her. 

“Got inspired, did you?” He teases through his disgust instead of answering.

“Sue me.” She bites out. “I get a craving, I fill a craving. That’s how I’m doing it.”

“As long as I don’t come back to the apartment to find questionable foods in my fridge it’s all good.” Derek smiles at her through the screen. “Is the baby kicking yet?”

“Not so much kicking as squirming, but yes. And don’t try to change the subject.”

“From what?”

“Your date with Stiles. Come one, distract me from the fact I’m willingly mixing pepperoni and pineapple.”

“So it grosses you out too?”

“So your date with Stiles?” Derek can see it’s a losing battle to talk about anything other than his date last night.

“My date with Stiles.”

Laura leans toward the screen eagerly, smiling at Derek in anticipation. She’s such a reality show junkie. It’s crazy how into the show she’s getting even just via Derek’s recounts of it. She laughed so much at the pool thing Derek’s stomach hurt in sympathy.

He's halfway through describing the faux stargazing to Laura when she gasps loudly and buts in.

“Wait, say that again. Slower.”

Derek frowns but does as she asks.

“Oh my god.” She rushes out. “You actually like Stiles. Like, really like him.”

“Laura, no. You know why I’m on this show. For you and the baby, not to-“

“Derek? Shut up.” 

He sits in silence, waiting for her judgement. It’s stupid of him to let himself be distracted by his attraction to Stiles, and yes, he is aware of it, he just doesn’t want to admit it. He had been hoping to hide it from Laura who is now sure to coach him doubly via Skype on how best to ‘seduce’ Stiles.

“You know I’m actually just ridiculously happy now. I can’t believe it! Wow. What does he think of you?”

“How am I supposed to know?” He tries not to think about the whole kissing thing.

“Wait. Did something happen?” Laura leaves her mouth hanging open after she asks. Derek shakes his head and firmly shuts his lips. “Derek.” He can’t say no to her needling voice.

“We may have kissed.” He relents, eyes fixed on Laura to see her reaction. It pretty phenomenal; she actually jolts out of her seat a little and her hands fly to press against her cheeks, her mouth wide open again.

“More than once?!” Derek winces slightly as the pitch comes out squeaky through his laptop.

“Just the once.”

“Was it good?” Laura’s hands are still pressing comically against her cheeks but her mouth has finally closed itself.

“Yeah. It was.”

“Derek.” She sighs, hands dropping to rest over her baby bump. 

“I know.” He presses his knuckles to his lips, thinking back to last night and smiling at Laura whenever she lets out another sigh or a laugh.

Eventually Laura’s head jerks around to a sound that doesn’t carry through to his side.

“That’s Cora. She’s taking me to a doctor’s appointment. Hey! Can I tell her?”

“Would it be ok if you didn’t? I just... I don’t want the family to get their hopes up or something. There’s still 11 other guys that Stiles could choose and we haven’t even known each other a month yet and eliminations are this afternoon-“

“Wo Derek. I get it. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Thanks. Good luck at the doctor’s.”

“Thanks Derek. Don't sweat the elims. No way he's kicking you off if he's kissing you.”

-

When Stiles comes down the staircase with Allison it’s like each step makes his heart beat just a little bit quicker. He’s nervous about sending people home and even though surely most of his choices are obvious, he’s worried the guys are going to feel bad towards him for it.

Nothing for it now though.

The 12 contestants are lined against the wall in no discernible order. Liam, Malia and Braeden are already in place and filming. He knows that Danny and Kira are upstairs watching everything in their super-secret tech room (which he’s been told he’ll finally get to go into next week) and Lydia and the twins are out of sight somewhere.

“Welcome to the first elimination round.” Allison addresses the guys when she and Stiles have come to a stop across the foyer from them. “These last few weeks you have all taken part in a number of games and challenges to test your compatibility with our bachelor Stiles. A few of you,” she nods in turn to Jordan, Isaac and Derek, and Stiles follows her line of sight each time, “had extra opportunities to woo the bachelor.

“But now it is time for our first elimination round.”

Right, that was Stiles cue. He clears his throat and smiles at the guys, remembering not to run his hands through his hair (Lydia’ orders).

“These last few weeks have been so much fun and I’ve honestly loved getting to know all of you. But since I am not a polygamist I can’t just date all of you, so, today I am sending home 4 of you.” Some of the guys look notably nervous at that but most seem to be trying to keep a poker face. Stiles takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, looking to Allison for reassurance. She smiles and nods at him.

“Ok, the first person who will be leaving the show is...” he pauses the assigned amount of time and makes sure to look at all of the 12 males equally, “Ennis.”

Stiles looks back to see Ennis’ face fall only slightly before he steps forward, like they’ve been told to do if called. Now the uncomfortable bit. Stiles is supposed to tell them why he’s sending them home (as if the getting eliminated wasn’t bad enough).

“Ennis. It’s been nice getting to know you. You’re very different from most people I know back home which has been interesting. But, maybe because of that, I don’t think that you are I are compatible.”

Ennis simply nods and leaves quietly out the door when Allison signals him to do so.

The remaining 11 guys don’t move to fill his spot and the blank space is ominous to Stiles. He breathes deeply again and moves on.

“The second person who will be leaving the show,” pause and look, “is Greenberg.”

The man in question steps forward immediately, as if he was expecting to be called. His eyes look kind of glassy though and Stiles doesn’t want to make him cry on TV so he shortens his next sentence.

“Greenberg you’re a nice guy but I don’t think we have the potential for the kind of connection I’m looking for.”

Short and sweet, Stiles thinks, and Greenberg does manage to leave without crying although the smile he gives Stiles is a little wobbly. 

“The third person to be leaving the show is... Matt.” Matt looks more angered than saddened by Stiles' reveal so he quickly moves on to finish his speech. “Matt I think you’re a fascinating person and talking with you is fun but I don’t think there’s any spark between us.”

Allison has to signal twice to Matt before he moves off and Stiles lets out a breath when he goes before quickly sucking in another one when he realises who he’s about to kick off.

Against his better judgement, and reminding by every single member of the crew, his eyes find Jordan in the line up. He’s one of the poker-faced people but Stiles images that he can see little worry lines creasing his forehead. Even now he’s still not feeling good about removing Jordan from the show but after thinking about it – a lot – he realises Scott was right. He sees Jordan as a friend and his brain has been quite adamant on that point basically from the start of the show. He shouldn’t lead him on.

Doesn’t mean he has to feel good about kicking him off though.

“The decision to eliminate this final person was the toughest choice for me to make and I had to spent a lot of time thinking about it and talking to Allison,” _and Scott,_ Stiles thinks, but he’s not sure he’s supposed to reference him on camera, “This person is someone who I’ve really taken to. They’re kind, smart, polite, fun to be around, but in the end, I've decided that we wouldn't work romantically. So the fourth person I will be eliminating is... Jordan.”

Jordan, true to form and everything Stiles just said about him, steps forward and gives Stiles a smile and a small shrug, hesitating only slightly when Allison gestures to the doorway.

Stiles turns his attention back to the remaining 8 contestants who have now moved in to fill the gaps left by Ennis, Greenberg, Matt and Jordan. They are all clearly relieved to still be standing there, sharing smiles with each other.

When Allison starts talking their attention is drawn back to her.

“Congratulations all of you and welcome to round two! Your next while living in the house will be different from what you’ve experienced already. There will be less challenges and games for you to do and Stiles will be spending more time downstairs, interacting naturally with you all.”

Stiles nods and smiles self-consciously as all of the men turn to look at him. He catches eyes with a few of them, getting mixed signals. Jackson looks almost predatory, Isaac too but less intensely, Brett and Mason he catches giving each other mischievous looks before his eyes settle on Derek’s and stay there. He just looks happy. Stiles nods gently at him and almost misses Allison’s cue for him to wrap up the segment.

“Yes. Well done for making it to round two. I’m looking forward to spending more time with all of you.” He runs his eyes along the line of men, smiling at them all. Brett, Mason, Jackson, Garret, Nathan, William, Isaac and Derek, who he gets to last so he can hold eye contact a little bit longer.

After the 8 contestants have all filed back into the rumpus room Stiles goes out front to where the 4 eliminated people were made to wait before they can come back in the pack up their stuff.

Ennis and Matt are in a conversation, hopefully not trash talking him, and Greenberg he can’t see anywhere, but he’s looking for Jordan anyway so that doesn’t bother him. He finds him sitting on the front steps and leaning up against a pole.

Stiles sits down next to him and Jordan turns, giving him a small smile when he sees who it is.

“Hey.” Stiles says, unsure of Jordan’s feelings at the moment.

“Hi Stiles.”

“So.”

Jordan chuckles and shakes his head. “I’m not mad or anything, don’t worry. You said some really nice things about me.”

Stiles slumps his shoulders and finally gives in and runs his hands through his hair. “Thanks Jordan. That’s... such a relief to hear actually. I wasn’t just playing it up when I said it was a really hard decision to send you home.”

Jordan nods and looks out across the property for several moments before shifting slightly. Stiles anticipate the question before it comes, but waits for him to ask anyway.

“Can I ask... why did you decide to eliminate me in the end.”

Stiles take his turn looking away from Jordan. “Well, I really like you, you’re a great person, but,” he turns back and Jordan thankfully doesn’t look like he’s about to cry or murder Stiles (or something in between) so he continues easily, “I just like you more as a friend.”

Jordan takes a moment to nod, still looking at Stiles, before he breaks into a big grin.

“I have been thinking the exact same thing.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You’re great too, funny and interesting and smart, but it’s like you said, I just feel friendly towards you.” Stiles laughs. He can’t believe it. All that worry and it turns out he and Jordan were on the exact same page. “That’s why I played it safe with our dinner date the other night, if you noticed.”

“Ok well, I am serious about the friends thing and I know we only live a few counties away. Did you want to exchange numbers and maybe we can meet up after this thing finishes filming?”

“Yeah, sounds good. And if you want to text anytime during the show, I know all the guy's dirty secrets.”

Stiles nudges Jordan a little with his shoulder as he passes over his phone for the other man to program his number into.

“There you go. Oh, and pass on my regards to your dad would you?”

“Yeah sure thing.” Stiles nods and stands up, Jordan doing that same. “So, I think I’m going to hug you now. Cool?”

“Go ahead.” Jordan says, easy smile on his face.

“Hey, maybe when they’re airing this thing on TV we could get together and watch it.” Stiles suggests as he pulls back.

“Sounds fun, if not potentially embarrassing.”

“For both of us, I assure you.”

“Well ok. I’ll be seeing you then.”

“Yeah. Bye Jordan.”

“Bye Stiles. And good luck for the rest of it.”

“Thanks.” Stiles smiles and waves, jogging back into the house and upstairs to log onto Skype and check in with Scott like he’d promised.

4 down 8 to go. Except that’s probably a horrible way to think about it. Stiles is just looking forward to more freedom to move around the house and hang out with the remaining competitors. Not that the games weren’t fun, but how they test compatibility for real life situations he doesn’t know.

“Scottyyyy,” Stiles drawls into the laptop when Scott accepts his call, “guess what just happened?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you once again! You guys give me happiness when I see that little view count creeping up.
> 
> Comments welcome. Kudos welcome. You are welcome. (Not sure what for...)
> 
> Next chapter, find out the purpose of the secret tech room as Stiles discovers a new segment of the show.


	7. The Tech Room Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles finds out what's inside the secret room. 
> 
> Derek receives a call from Laura at 3 in the morning.

It’s been a week since the first elimination and Stiles is confident that he sent the right people home. Jordan has actually even texted him once or twice and Stiles sends him updates on events of the house when he can find cell reception.

It’s fun hanging out with the contestants without the pressure of being the focal point of a game or challenge. It’s almost like being back in college; the communal living space, the easy talking, the washing up roster, the occasional shirtlessness (mostly from Jackson and Isaac and sadly never from Derek).

There was even a day trip down to a local sports field for a friendly soccer match. Stiles had fun despite being the second worse player behind Jonathan (there must be something about people who work with books for a living). He was on a team with Brett, Mason and Isaac the former of who was a great advantage with his professional sports background and the latter of who was a massive distraction, insisting on lifting Stiles and spinning him around whenever either of them scored a goal. He also did that shirt over the head thing which Stiles never got before but can kind of see the appeal of when up close. They did lose in the end, the combined sportiness of Derek, Jackson and – surprisingly – Nathan more than making up for Jonathan’s lack of coordination. Also Stiles thinks that Garrett, who was being the referee, had made some kind of deal with Jackson to be harsher on Stiles' team.

Stiles thinks his favourite moment of the past week was when Derek finally got around to giving him the pizza recipe from their date night. He didn’t just hand Stiles a written recipe though, he actually gave him a practical lesson, the two of them making pizzas one lunch for everyone. And it was fairly hands on. Like that scene from _Ghost,_ but with pizza dough. And not as sexy because the other guys were there too.

This time Stiles did blow soap bubbles into Derek’s hair when they did the dishes and the startled look on his face was so perfect that it burned itself into Stiles’ brain and he found himself laughing days after the fact, remembering Derek’s widened eyes and parted lips.

(Sometimes his dreams incorporate the image into a less PG scenario.)

But today Stiles isn’t hanging out with the contestants. Today Stiles is finally being allowed into Danny and Kira’s tech room.

He’ll admit he’s been mildly inquisitive ever since he was told on day one that he couldn’t know what was in there (yet), so he’s pretty excited. But also a fair deal nervous because the entire crew has gathered around behind him, waiting for him to open the door to god knows what (well they do all know, so it’s only him in the dark).

“Guys, back up a little. I can feel you breathing on my neck.”

“Sorry.” Kira mutters from basically right on top of his left ear, “I just love this part.”

“Well please feel free to love it from a foot further away.” He already has Liam with a camera recording from somewhere behind him.

Stiles feels Kira scramble backwards, bumping into someone who lets out a small groan.

Stiles stares at the door, feeling wary, excited, nervous, basically a big uncomfortable ball of things. but curiosity gets the better of him like always. 

“Well. Here goes then.” He turns the handle and pushes the door in.

“Holy god. What is this place?” Stiles feels like he’s walked into some kind of spy film, or an action film or something. A large desk stretches across two of the room’s walls and the space from the desk’s top to the ceiling is covered with massive TV screens, all displaying visuals from around the house. 

Stiles quickly counts them all, the pictures moving in real time with little time and date stamps at the bottom. There are 8 different screens showing the rumpus room, two for each quarter at different angles, the foyer has 3 cameras, the gym another 3, and then several screens showing the entire outdoor area from the front of the house along the path on both sides and to the back – hammock area, patio and pool. There are also another few screens that are currently blank. Stiles worries about what they could be for.

“Cool isn’t it?” Kira moves in front of him and sits herself on one of the wheeled desk-chairs, looking absolutely at home, and spinning it so it faces him. She’s got this giddy, excited look on her face, eyes open alarmingly wide. Stiles hopes his face doesn’t look like that. It probably does.

Danny moves to sit himself in another of the seats, tapping away at one of the desktop computers.

“Speechless?” Allison whispers in his ear. Stiles proves her right by nodding. “It has that affect on people.”

“Hidden cameras.” Malia says gleefully.

“It’s all in the contract though,” Braeden informs him, “if any of them bothered to read through the thing properly.” Stiles just nods some more and continues flicking his eyes back and forth between the screens. This is going to be really riveting viewing for viewers when the show finally airs. Stiles staring at screens with his mouth open.

“Well,” Danny says, turning back around, “pick a screen”.

“Uh... that one.” Stiles points to the screen showing the kitchen area, one of the few sections of the house where there are currently people. Danny clicks a few buttons and then the screens turn blue for a second before the image from the kitchen is back taking up an entire wall of screens.

“Woh.” Stiles steps forward. The image quality is amazing and Stiles can almost image that he’s right there in the kitchen. The actual action shouldn’t be that fascinating to watch, it’s just Mason and Brett leaning up against the kitchen island eating sandwiches and talking, but Stiles is entertained nonetheless.

“This is kind of amazing.” He tells the crew eventually. “A little creepy and possibly voyeuristic, but very, very cool.”

“Good.” Lydia says in her non-fuss way. “This next week we want you to spend an hour each day in here, watching how the contestants interact with each other when you’re not there. Don’t worry about having someone in here with you because there are cameras in this room too.” 

Kira types something into another computer when Lydia says that and one of the blank screens on the wall not currently showing the kitchen comes to life with a wide-shot of the tech room and all the crew in it. Stiles looks around trying to find where the camera is before Danny takes pity on him and points to a small camera mounted between two of the screens in the middle of the main wall.

“Okay.” Stiles looks back to Lydia. “Is that it? Just come here whenever? Does it have to be an hour in a row or just a few minutes here and there?”

“We’d prefer an hour in a row just so it’s easier for Danny and Kira to find the footage later, but it’s not compulsory.”

“And is there a time-frame on when I can and can’t be in the room.”

“Guys?” Lydia passes the question over to Kira and Danny.

Danny shrugs at Kira. “Doesn’t bother me.”

“Me either. So come over whenever you want, Stiles. Just be prepared to find one of us working.”

“Wait, you guys do actual work on this show?”

“Oh shush.” Kira says, swivelling her chair so her back is to Stiles. He pokes his tongue out at her and then flushes when he remembers she can see it in the TV screen, but she just pokes her tongue out in return.

“Can I do today’s hour now then?”

“Go for it.” Allison encourages him. “I might sit in and watch.”

“Fine by me.”

Stiles grabs the comfier looking desk chair and wheels it over to sit in between Danny and Kira, and Allison follows. On the screen showing the tech room he sees the rest of the crew filing out. He smiles and shakes his head, feeling again like he’s in a spy film. It’s pretty awesome.

Danny does some keyboard clacking and the giant projection of the kitchen goes away, replaced once more by the individual screens.

“I’m almost afraid to ask, but what are the blank screen for?”

“Oh. Yeah, nothing nefarious.” Kira whizzes her fingers on the keyboard, bringing them to life and she points them out to Stiles, “3 in the date room, and then a few in our upstairs main room. But we don’t have them active all the time because, obviously, lots of that footage would be useless.”

“Ok cool. And... nothing in the laundry room downstairs?”

“Nope.” Kira pops the ‘p’ and does a full 360 spin in her chair. She really does fit in surrounded by all her computers and tech stuff.

“Watching the contestants do their laundry didn’t test well.” Danny deadpans. Stiles just nods but then he looks over at Allison and she’s got a look in her eye.

“Why do you ask? Did something happen?”

“What? No. Nothing.”

Kira stills her chair and looks between him and Allison. He feels his cheeks heat. Danny just raises an eyebrow at him and enlarges one of the screens showing the gym.

“What, no, Danny! What are you doing?” 

“Nothing.” He says with his back to Stiles, studiously doing something that is actually probably nothing.

Danny is evil. The screen he’s brought up nice and big and HD and full colour is Derek running shirtless on one of the treadmills. Stiles tries not to look. Well, he looks, because not looking would be a giveaway, but he tries not to _look_ look. It’s hard though because Derek is gorgeous and covered in glistening sweat and yes, Stiles has seen him sans shirt before, but not when there wasn’t a possibility that he would embarrass himself by checking Derek out so he’s going to look a little bit.

Or 3 minutes, apparently, according to Allison, before they can get his attention again.

“What. Yes, sorry. I, um... got distracted.”

“Yeah, we can tell.” Allison teases. “So, about this laundry room thing.”

Stiles sighs and tilts his head back. “Okay, fine. Because I know you’re not going to drop it. Kira, remember after we played Trivial Pursuit and you were pissy at me because I won?” 

“I wasn’t pissy, Stiles, but yes.”

“Okay, well, I may or may not have feared a little for my life and hid in the laundry room the following morning. Which, I might add, turned out to be justified because you were totally planning on spooking me awake!”

“Guilty as charged.” Kira says smugly, swivelling her chair some more.

“So what happened in the laundry room?”

“Er, nothing.” Stiles says to Danny, but his eyes can’t help but flick up to Derek and he knows he’s given himself away. He sighs. “Okay, what happened is that Derek was there and we just talked a bit about things.” Stiles shrugs and drops his head from staring at the screen. He swivels his chair and pretends to be distracted by the other wall of monitors and not by thoughts of Derek which are careening around in his skull.

“There’s got to be more to the story than that.” Kira prompts, clearly unimpressed.

“There’s not.”

_“Stiles.”_

“Ah! Fine.” He turns back around. “I may have admitted that I really wanted to kiss him and then he may have admitted it back.”

“And then you kissed?” Allison asks, eyes bright with happiness for him.

“No. At least... not then.”

“What?” Kira and Danny say at the same time, both immediately turning back to check things on their screens.

“Did you?” Kira prompts.

“No.” Danny replies, fingers tapping frantically.

Allison is smiling fondly at them, though biting her lip to try and hide it.

“Lydia is going to-.” 

“I know.” Danny interrupts Kira. “Fuck.”

Stiles rolls his chair right up next to Allison’s and leans to whisper in her ear. “What are they freaking out about?”

“You and Derek kissed?” Stiles nods. “They didn’t get it on camera.”

“Oh.” Stiles can appreciate their concern. They’re probably right about whatever it is they think Lydia is going to do when she finds out. But Stiles actually feels relived.

He doesn’t regret kissing Derek and he knows that would be silly if he did seeing as he was the one who initiated it; mentioning it that first time and then teasing Derek into it on their date. It goes against the grain of Stiles choosing to go on a reality dating show but he’s happy that his and Derek’s first kiss is going to be a private thing between the two of them. Not that it was anything more than G-rated, but it’s nice to be able to share that particular memory with just him and Derek, and not thousands of other Americans plus his parents, which is what would happen had Danny and Kira had a camera in the upstairs corridor.

“When did it happen then, if it wasn’t that morning in the laundry room?”

“After our date.”

“Ah.” Allison nods and looks back at the now small image of Derek in the gym amongst the other screens. 

Stiles narrows his eyes at her. “Why do you sound like you just figured something out?”

“Well because after your dinner date with Derek I happened to walk by the room later and Derek was just lying on the couch. Looked like he was having a serious revelation.” Allison turns to smile at him and it manages to be both warm and also leading. “Guess I know what that was about now.”

“Guess you do.” 

Stiles wonders what kind of thoughts Derek would have been having after they kissed. Hopefully happy ones. 

Neither of them have brought it up this week but that might just be because they haven’t been alone together since it happened. But sometimes Stiles catches Derek giving him a look that’s more heated than normal, as if he’s remembering their kiss. Stiles likes to lick his lips when that happens and Derek always drops his gaze to them. Half the time he realises what Stiles is doing and rolls his eyes at him, but the other half... Stiles loves those times, when Derek reacts without seeming to realise, licking his own lips or swallowing heavily. Makes Stiles feel wanted and warm.

Maybe it’s because of these private moments they can manage to have surrounded by other people that have helped Stiles settle back into the ease between them after he told Derek about his mother. Which reminds him, he hasn’t actually told her yet, even though they Skyped twice last week. 

-

Stiles ends up telling her the next day. His father is there too even though he normally works Tuesday’s.

“How did he take it?” His mother asks gently. She’s probably just asking to check that Derek treated Stiles well with the new information, but Stiles also knows that Derek is one of her favourite contestants so there’s probably a little bit of that influencing her too.

“He was really great about it actually. Gave me time to say everything and then was very, um... comforting after.”

“That’s not a euphemism is it?”

“No dad.” Stiles rolls his eyes. “He just, you know, hugged me. He’s a really great hugger.”

“Well okay then. As long as it stays just as hugs.”

“Uh, yeah, okay.” Best not to tell him about the kiss then.

His father looks convinced but Stiles’ mother is looking at him with a small smirk and a tilted head, clearly not buying the ‘no further than a hug thing’. Thankfully she doesn’t bring it up though during their talk but Stiles is convinced that the next time it’s just the two of them talking she’s going to ask.

“We’ve started doing this new segment.” Stiles announces to move the conversation past Derek.

“And what is it?” His mother asks, politely, barely a hint of ‘I-know-you’re-hiding-something-and-we’re-going-to-talk-about-it-later’ in her voice.

“It’s a little Big Brother actually. So you know that Liam, Malia and Braeden are the film crew for the show?” His parents both nod, having been introduced to them via Skype early on in the competition. “Okay so besides them, there are also a bunch of hidden cameras around the house which is very cool in my opinion, and before you start dad,” Stiles responds to his father’s narrowing eyes, “it’s all ethical and described to the contestants in their contracts. Plus it’s not creepy bathroom cameras or anything, just the communal house areas.” Stiles' dad still looks a little concerned, but that’s only to be expected of someone in law enforcement Stiles supposes, so he powers on.

“So this week I’m meant to spent time in the tech room – you know that secret room I kept going on about – just observing what the guys are like without me there.”

“Well,” his mother says after several beats, “I understand the reason behind it, but I do think it’s a tad unorthodox.” His father nods in agreement.

“Mum. Dad. I’m on a reality dating show. This entire situation is unorthodox.”

“Fair point son.” Stiles nods his head to his father’s concession.

“Oh hey!” Stiles perks up as an idea comes to him. “Maybe I can talk to Lydia and do a Skype session with you guys in the tech room. That way you can finally see the guys.”

“Well that would be lovely.”

“Ok great I’m gonna go ask right now. You two stay here.”

Stiles dashes off to find Lydia. It doesn’t take long seeing as she’s set up with the twins, Allison and Malia at the big dining room table, talking them through something or other which Stiles ignores in his excitement.

“Hey Lydia. I’ve got an idea.” He doesn’t wait for a signal. “So I’m just in the middle of Skypeing with my parents and-“

“You walked out in the middle of a call with your parents?”

“Yes, anyways.” Stiles flaps his hands at Aiden’s interruption. “I was thinking, can I do a session with them in the tech room? Like, bring my laptop in and Skype with them so I can show them all the guys?”

Lydia blinks a few times then exchanges several looks with Aiden and Ethan as Stiles bounces on his feet and resists the urge to fiddle with his sleeves.

“Okay. You can do it.”

“Yes! Thanks Lydia.” He rushes over and plants a massive kiss on her cheek which brings a little blush to them. 

“There is one condition though.”

“Right, yeah, of course.”

“We’ll be using it in the final cut of the show, so make sure Danny or Kira sets things up so they can get good sound on your parents. That should be it though.”

“Thank you. You’re all wonderful!” Stiles rushes back into his bedroom, eager to tell his parents the news.

“Judging by that face, you got the go ahead on your plan?”

“Yes. Yes. Want to go now? Can we?”

“Actually, honey, I have a doctor’s appointment.” His mum looks at him sheepishly and Stiles realises that’s probably the reason his dad switched his work days around.

He deflates a little but smiles at his mum. “Of course. That’s fine. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. I’m all good. Just a regular check-up.” Stiles nods, letting himself believe it. It’s probably true and there’s no point working into a tizzy about it. Nothing he can do while he’s in the house filming anyway. Besides, his mother looks as healthy as before he left, cheeks still rounded and hair still its' gorgeous, wavy brown.

“What time is good for you then? Tomorrow afternoon?”

“Tomorrow sounds wonderful.” His mother smiles at him and his father takes her hand and kisses it.

“We have to go now, Claud.”

“Hmm, okay.” She takes her eyes off Stiles for a second to place a kiss on her husband’s cheek. “Bye Stiles. Love you.”

“Love you too mum. And you dad, of course. See you tomorrow.”

-

The day after he showed his parents the contestants – his dad was concerned with how attractive they all were and his mother blushed furiously when he brought the gym camera image up nice and big – Stiles is 20 minutes into his tech room hour, having fun making different camera images big like Kira taught him the other day, when the door opens behind him.

“Hey Danny.” Stiles says to the screen which is displaying the tech room.

“Hey.” Danny plops hismelf into the seat next to Stiles and stretches his legs outs, lifting his arms above his head. 

“Big morning?”

Danny sighs and drops his arms. “Yeah. Me and Ethan has to go out to get some last minute grocery supplies for the barbeque.”

“Cool stuff.” Stiles nods and switches to another camera angle, purposely choosing one that Derek does not feature in. Beside him, Danny logs into his computer and brings up one of the editing programs. “So how long have you and Ethan been dating?” Stiles lounges back in the swivel chair and shoves some mini-marshmallows into his mouth from a bag he’s been snacking on.

“We’re not dating.” Danny doesn’t stop his work.

“Wait. Really? But you guys flirt all the time. And you’re so comfortable around each other.”

“Well you flirt with all the contestants and you’re not dating any of them.” Danny turns to look at him over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow.

“Okay but it’s like, contractually obligated of me to be flirty.” Danny’s looking back at his screen but Stiles notices that his shoulders have slumped slightly. “Sorry to push it so much. I honestly thought you guys were like endgame.”

“It’s alright, I get it.” Danny saves his work and turns his chair around to face Stiles. “I do like him in that way. And he likes me.”

“So I was right.” Stiles interjects smugly, but Danny continues over the top of him.

“ _But_ he doesn’t want to date. Says it’s unprofessional.” Stiles sits up straight in his chair because Danny is all of a sudden not looking like his normal happy self. The dimples are nowhere to be seen.

“Sorry Danny.” He offers the pack of marshmallows and Danny sighs heavily before reaching to grab a handful and bite into them slowly, one by one. “At least you know he likes you?”

“Yeah, sure. But that’s almost worse because it means I can’t get over him.”

“Well, just convince him to date you.”

“I’ve been trying to for over a year.”

“Okay, I’ll help you. I am a very good persuasive speaker slash wingman.” Danny scoffs. “It's true. Ask Scott. But tell me, what are his grounds for unprofessionalism?”

“Regular stuff I suppose,” Danny reaches for another handful of mini-marshmallows, “just that we’re co-workers and he technically ranks higher than me and he doesn’t think it would look good.”

“But you work on a reality _dating_ show. The whole point of it is to inspire relationships.”

“Yes, but between you and the contestants. Not between us.”

“Bullshit. I’m going to have a chat with Ethan next time I see him. He’ll come around. He’s already over halfway there if he likes you anyway. Easy as pie.”

Danny smiles at him but doesn’t look convinced of Stiles' abilities.

“I will. Promise. Stilinski’s are true to their word.”

“Okay.” Danny lifts his hands in a shrug, a small smile gracing his face. Stiles counts that as a win.

Stiles stays there longer than his allotted hour, goofing around with Danny and convincing him to let Stiles play around on the editing software. Danny’s shoulders lose their tension and he starts teasing Stiles about how he keeps following Derek as he moves around the various screens. Stiles throws the remaining marshmallows at him and threatens to retract his offer to talk to Ethan for him. Danny says maybe that’s the better option after all and Stiles storms out dramatically, but in jest.

-

Derek is woken up by his phone loudly buzzing on his bedside table. He groans out loud and rolls over to reach it. He hates the stupid silent setting. What’s the point of even putting it on silent if the vibrate is so damn loud anyway. 

Because he’s unwilling to open his eyes, it takes a few tries for his hand to make contact with his phone. He brings it to his face and cracks his eyes open just slightly to look at who’s calling at, is that right? 3am.

_Incoming: Laura (sister)_

Derek feels abruptly more awake. Why is she calling him? Why is she calling him so early? Derek’s brain goes through several different horrible situations to do with the baby in the time it takes him to sit up and accept the call.

“Laura? Are you okay? What is it?”

“Derek? Oh god. D-Derek.” There is the sound of loud, choked sobbing coming through the phone line and Derek is now definitely much more awake than he was 20 seconds ago.

“Hey it’s okay. I’m here. You’re okay.” Derek scrambles to pull on a sweater and then hurriedly grabs his laptop from where it’s charging on his desk, making his way quickly and silently out of his bedroom and through to the main room. He has a feeling Laura is going to need him for a while and he doesn’t want to wake his neighbours.

“Laura?” Derek sets up his laptop on the dining table. Laura hasn’t said anything in the past minute, just cried more down the phone. Loud sobs and mingled hiccups. “I’m getting Skype up okay? Can you do that? We’ll be able to talk better. The phone reception is spotty here.”

Laura takes a deep breath and makes a few affirmative noises down the phone, her sobbing fading into soft crying.

Derek lets out a breath and sends out a silent thank you to Lydia and the twins for letting him have contact with Laura. He doesn’t know yet what has happened but can only imagine how much worse it would be if she wasn’t allowed to contact him. 3am emergencies are always serious.

Derek keeps his phone pressed hard against his face, listening anxiously as Laura moves around on the other end, sniffling and fumbling to set up her own laptop. Soon enough, the call comes through and Derek accepts it, an image of Laura, lit harshly by a solitary lamp next to the lounge she’s leaning up against, filling his screen.

She looks horrible, not because her hair is a mess and her pyjamas have holes in them, but because there are menacing looking bags under her eyes and tear tracks glistening down her cheeks.

She sighs out when she sees him and launches into a fresh round of loud sobbing. Derek curses that he didn’t bring headphones out with him and turns the volume down a little on her, feeling bad as he does so.

“Laura are you okay? Is the baby okay?”

“God Derek. Yes. No. I don’t know. Probably.” It comes out in lurches, sometimes a mumble and sometimes a whisper and sometimes a shout. 

She takes a deep, struggling breath and starts again. “The baby is fine.”

Derek just nods along, trying to project his concern to her in a comforting way. It’s hard over Skype. Laura is such a tactile person that the best way to comfort her is through touch. He spent a lot of time hugging her after Kyle’s passing. But he doesn’t have the option now.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

Laura shakes her head furiously then harshly drags her palms down her cheeks, wiping away tears. Derek can tell despite her refusal that she’s building up to something.

Laura takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, leaning her head back against the couch cushion. She opens her mouth. Closes it. Her eyes scrunch together and she presses her lips together, obviously fighting off another round of tears.

She opens her mouth again. Shuts it. Rubs her hands in circles over her swollen stomach.

Derek sits and waits.

“I miss him, Derek.” She whispers eventually, eyes still shut.

Derek hangs his head and sighs out. So it’s about Kyle.

“I do to, Lau.” He admits, looking back up to his screen. Her eyes are open now and she’s looking at him with wide eyes.

She breaks their gaze eventually and drops her head to look at her baby bump. “I’m sorry for waking you up.”

“Hey, no. You can always wake me up for things like this. Okay?”

Laura breathes in shakily and nods. Derek’s just glad that she’s looking more held together now, happy he could comfort her despite the distance between them.

“I miss you too. I think.”

Derek breaths out. “Gee, thanks Laura.”

Laura lifts her head and rolls her eyes, smiling at Derek. “Okay, I do. I miss you. Your apartment is big. How did you stand living here by yourself?”

“Well I probably didn’t spend as much time there as you do.”

“True. You are a workaholic. I don’t know how you’re managing over there away from your precious blueprints.” 

“Well, I have been emailing with Rick.”

“Ah, of course.” Laura shakes her head, a small smile on her face. 

“Being alone here though, I just... I have lots of time to think and well...”

“Hey, it’s okay. I get it.”

“Thank you Derek. You really are a wonderful brother.”

Derek smiles, taking the compliment as a sign that Laura is over the worse of her melancholy now.

“Baby’s kicking.” Laura announces, lifting her sleep shirt over the rounded stomach so she can press her hand against it. “Can you see? Right here.” She points at a spot just to one side of her belly button.

“Laura. I doubt I’ll be able to see the baby kick.”

“Hang on, Der. She’ll get there.”

Derek leans closer to the screen to appease her. Nothing happens. Then Derek sees movement right where Laura’s finger is still pressing against her stomach.

“Wha- Was that really the baby kicking?” Derek asks, awed.

Laura smiles and nods. “Yeah.”

Derek smiles too and laughs, leaning in even closer to the screen. He feels like a proud uncle already. “That’s amazing Laura.”

“I know. I’m still not over it yet. Oh! There she goes again.”

Derek laughs again, so happy to see that little sign of life, happy that Laura can still be happy despite how fresh the wound of Kyle’s passing is.

-

Upstairs, Stiles sits unmoving in a chair in the tech room, mouth open and eyes glued to the screens in front of him. 

He was having one of his insomnia nights and thought it would be a good way to pass the time if he came and stared at some empty screens, maybe play around some more with Danny and Kira’s tech equipment. But now he really, really wishes he had just slept through the night. 

Derek just spent hours talking to and consoling a pregnant woman.

Stiles doesn’t understand and his gut is all twisted and aching.

Is he being played? Is this dating show all just... just a _show_ for Derek? A game?

And Stiles had told him about his _mother._ Oh god. Oh god.

 _“Don’t cry idiot.”_ Stiles hisses to himself, pressing the heels of his palm into his eyes. It’s no use though. He feels sick to his stomach.

He feels back in high school again, with shit self-esteem, desperate for someone to want him and reading into everything too much. He has, hasn’t he? Been reading _so much_ into every little glance Derek gives him. 

He takes one last look at the screen – he can’t not – and Derek is smiling softly and laughing and the woman on screen is showing him her stomach and laughing along with him as she rubs her hand lovingly over the curve.

Stiles blinks furiously and tells himself to get out of there now.

He rushes into his room, almost slamming his door, forgetting that it’s stupidly early in the morning. He heads straight to the bathroom and shucks his clothes off, turning the shower water on to scolding hot then just sitting right under the spray and letting the noise of it cover his own shaky breaths. He doesn’t notice that he’s crying because the shower washes the tears away as soon as they escape his eyes.

He’s giving himself tonight and then tomorrow he’ll be over it. He’ll ignore Derek and try to focus his attention on someone else, on all the other 7 guys, like he should be doing anyway. 

Or he won’t let it go and he’ll talk to Derek about it. 

He’ll decide tomorrow. Maybe sleep will bring answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that crashed back into the non-fluffy fic the bio describes.
> 
> Next chapter, more fun and (literal) games. Does Stiles talk to Derek or does he wallow? Does someone else step up to fill Derek’s place as the forerunner for Stiles’ affections?
> 
> Thank you once again you brilliant people. I would love to shake all your hands and smile at you. Or you can say hi on [tumblr ](http://www.whatthehellisawinchester.tumblr.com%20) and I'll say hi back!


	8. Barbeques and Late Night Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles deals with the repercussions of what he saw in the tech room.
> 
> The contestants have a barbeque in the lead up to the second elimination.

Stiles wakes up slowly the next morning to the sounds of the crew playing Mario Kart in the main room. He blinks groggily and rolls around a bit before reaching for a pillow and attempting to smother himself with it.

It’s a pre-emptive measure to stop him from dying of embarrassment.

Last night was not one of his finest moments. In fact, Stiles thinks as he pushes the pillow harder against his face, it probably ranks in his lowest 10 moments of life (along with the entire summer of ’07 and the time he inadvertently added an extra zero to the book order for his store).

Of course Derek doesn’t have a pregnant wife/girlfriend/ex waiting for him back at home. 

Stiles blames his 3am frame of mind. He isn’t the best thinker without a full night’s sleep, and he was already feeling in a slump, having worked himself up over not seeing his parents in the flesh for over a month.

So Stiles had overreacted. Big time. 

Stiles loosens the pillow’s pressure on his face and hugs it to his chest instead.

He’d somehow forgotten about the entire process that he had to go through the get on this show. Every single personality test and essay sent, every personal and medical history filled out, family trees provided, each interview with Ethan, then Ethan and Aiden, then Ethan and Aiden and Lydia. No way could Derek have gotten through that to be a contestant on a dating show if there was some woman out there pregnant with a child he’d fathered.

And if there was, why would Lydia and the twins have given him permission to contact her? The thought is ludicrous in the light of day.

But the fact that Derek _had_ gotten permission to talk to her, whoever she was, must mean that she’s someone very important in his life. Yet Stiles has no idea who she can be. A sister? Friend? Aunt?

Stiles frowns, thinking. He feels close to Derek already, in some unexplainable way, yet... does he really know him beyond his surface? Stiles’ frown deepens when he realises that no, he doesn’t. Hopefully today he can start to remedy that situation. 

The crew are calling it their day off, but for the contestants, it’s their last chance to impress Stiles before the second elimination round. It’s a glorified barbeque, basically, that the 8 remaining guys are supposed to organise. They’ve been planning it the past few days, putting in food orders and rearranging the outdoor furniture and doing test runs on the grill. Stiles knows all this because he’s been asked several times for his opinions on various barbeque meats and what his beer preference is, not to mention having managed to see a rather intense discussion when he was doing an hour in the tech room a few days ago which turned out to be about the shopping list.

Stiles hears footsteps coming towards his door and hurries out of his bed in case it’s Kira come to jump on him. It turns out to be a wise move because it is, in fact, Kira. She stops short when she sees him already standing up though and even looks a little disappointed to find him already awake.

“Oh! You’re up.”

“Yeah.”

“We weren’t sure whether you’d be awake in time for lunch after last night.”

“Last night?” Stiles gulps and tries not to look guilty. He’d made a mistake last night seeing Derek on the screens and he really doesn’t want his hopeless reaction to be public knowledge.

“Yeah, you were in the tech room at, like, 4am.”

“No I wasn’t.” Stiles says quickly. Probably too quickly.

“Oh. Maybe our alarm’s faulty then.” Kira seems to go along with him and pulls her mobile out of her shoe – Stiles is too afraid to ask – and taps at the screen. “Danny and I get alerts whenever anyone goes in the room.” 

Stiles slumps his shoulders. He doesn’t want to cause her and Danny unnecessary harm just because he doesn’t want to embarrass himself. “In that case, I was in the room last night. I couldn’t sleep and so I just went to watch the screens for a bit.”

“Oh, okay.” Kira slips her phone back into her boot then blinks at Stiles a few times, cocking her head. “Are you okay Stiles? You look a little out of it this morning.”

Stiles smiles at her and shakes his head. “I’m fine. As I said, I just didn’t sleep well last night.”

Kira narrows her eyes at him but nods anyway, accepting his excuse. It really is true though, Stiles didn’t sleep well last night because he was too busy freaking out about Derek and the pregnant woman.

“We’re all heading down to lunch now but you can just meet us when you’re ready.”

“Cool. Thanks Kira.”

“See you down there.” 

Stiles goes into the large bathroom as soon as he hears Kira shut the door behind her. He heads straight to the sink, wetting a washcloth instead of showering seeing as he’d done that just a few hours ago. Looking in the mirror he can see where Kira was coming from. His skin is paler than usual and his hair is a disaster, but all in all it’s actually not too bad considering his mini-breakdown last night.

Quickly checking the weather forecast on his phone Stiles dresses in snug jeans and converse with a plaid shirt and black hoodie. He attempts to flatten his hair but gives up very quickly, not wanting to keep the guys waiting any longer. It is their last activity together as a group before Stiles kicks off another 4 guys from the competition and he wants to give them all his utmost attention, as is only fair.

Honestly, Stiles has no clue who he’s going to send home tomorrow. In all the excitement of being allowed in the tech room, and then being in there each day and getting closer to Danny and Kira (and plotting ways to be alone with Ethan so he can do his wingman duties), he’d entirely forgotten about eliminations. The only thing Stiles is sure about is that Derek will be staying. Probably Mason too. Maybe Isaac. Or maybe Jackson instead. Or maybe-

Well that just confirms to Stiles he needs to use his time at the barbeque today wisely.

When he gets downstairs, everyone is already outside, helping themselves to various nibbles which are spread out on the main table. The crew have their own table on the grassy area and Stiles waves at them before turning his attention to the larger table under the pergola where the contestants are sitting.

“Sorry I’m late.” Stiles offers them, eyes trailing around the table to look at all of them. On one side of the long table are Brett, Mason, Garret and Jackson. The other side has Derek, Isaac, Jonathan and Nathan. They’ve left him a seat at the head of the table which Stiles takes, helping himself to some food as he walks past.

“No problem.” Isaac grins at him over the top of his beer bottle. “We made sure Mason didn’t eat all the food.”

“Hey!” Mason protests, miming throwing his bread at Isaac who ducks and then rolls his eyes when he realises Mason didn’t throw anything.

That sets the mood for the rest of the barbeque really.

Derek and Jackson try to rope Stiles into helping them grill the barbeque meats when everyone’s ready for lunch, but he refuses very adamantly on the grounds that they’re meant to be pampering him today and also because he’ll probably start a fire. They let it go eventually – not after some slight manhandling and a few meat related innuendoes – and grab Isaac instead. Stiles uses the time they’re away from the table trying to get to know the other guys better.

It works out that the ones left at the table – Nathan, Jonathan and Garrett more so than Brett and Mason – are the people Stiles doesn’t feel he’s spent as much time with so he takes Isaac’s vacated seat and starts up a group discussion about spirit animals which quickly dissolves into swapping riddles. Not the most telling discussion Stiles could have hoped for but better than nothing. 

Stiles is so glad he didn’t try to help with the barbequing just to be with Derek because the food ends up tasting _amazing_. He may gush about it a little and is rewarded to see the tips of Derek’s ears go pink, while Isaac and Jackson both send winks his way, which causes him to choke slightly on his mouthful of chicken. Nathan thumps him rather forcefully on the back while he chokes and he manages to swallow the chicken without spitting it out first, for which he is very thankful.

He turns over his shoulder to give the crew the evil eye because they all started laughing uproariously while he’d been choking. Kira falls of her seat.

Stiles hasn’t been ruminating on it, he really has been trying to spend time with all of the guys and help his mind work out who he wants staying in the competition, but it just happens that somewhere between the cheese course – Isaac’s brainchild apparently – and dessert, he finds himself alone with Derek.

Stiles does a double-take when he notices they’re alone in the kitchen, having both brought in dirty plates to load in the dishwasher.

“Everything okay?” Derek straightens up from the dishwasher, stepping into Stiles’ sightline, blocking all the others outside around the table from view. Stiles blinks and looks up into Derek’s amazing eyes. Huh. Stiles normally gets distracted by the eyebrows.

“What colour are your eyes?”

Derek just rolls with it, thank goodness. “Good question. I’d love to know. I put green on anything official though.”

Stiles nods, brain already three steps ahead, thinking about how Derek is going to react when he knows that Stiles knows about the pregnant lady he’s been talking to. 

“You good?”

Stiles nods then changes half-way to a shrug. “There’s actually, uh... I have something I want to talk to you about.”

Derek immediately steps closer, hand coming out to grasp Stiles' bicep.

“Is this about your mother? Is she okay?”

“What?” Stiles is distracted by how impressive it is that the heat from Derek’s hand can so quickly travel through his two layers of clothing and right under his skin. “Oh. My mum’s fine. Thank you for asking though.” Derek removes his hand and Stiles immediately replaces where it was on his arm with his own hand. Derek notices, his – green – eyes tracking the movement.

“I actually wanted to ask about you?” Stiles keeps his arm across his chest, waiting for a response from Derek. He doesn’t think he’s doing a very good job of approaching this subject, which could turn out to be extremely sensitive. Maybe he should start over.

He sighs out and drops his arm, rubbing a hand through his hair instead. “Look, I feel like I’ve already screwed up this whole conversation.” Derek shakes his head at that but Stiles just powers on. “So I’m just going to be blunt. Sorry in advance.”

Derek raises his eyebrows, looking very confused but slightly concerned as well.

“I saw you Skyping with a pregnant woman last night. I’d like to know who she is. _If you want to tell me._ ” He tacks on quickly to the end, remembering the consideration that Derek had shown him when he asked about his mother.

Derek looks stunned for about one second, before he says the three little words that put Stiles’ mind, finally, completely at ease about the situation.

“She’s my sister.”

“Oh.” Stiles breathes out. That makes a lot of sense. But then again, any explanation Derek gave him would have made more sense than the one his brain came up with at 3am last night.

“I second that. How did you know about her?”

Derek’s emotions have flipped to lots of concern and a little bit of confusion. Stiles swallows, feeling belittled just through the closing off of Derek’s posture. He opens his mouth to explain about the tech room when Brett and Mason come in from outside, laughing loudly at something.

Stiles immediately steps back from Derek, moving to put away the dishes he’d left abandoned on the kitchen counter.

“Yo! Dessert time!” Mason claps Stiles on the back as he moves past him to the fridge. “Be prepared Stiles, I think we may have overdone the desserts.”

Stiles straightens up after his last plate is in and smiles at Mason in a way that he hopes isn’t reflective of his worried state of mind. “You can never have too much dessert Mason.”

“That’s what I said.” Brett also touches Stiles as he moves past to manoeuvre a very large cheesecake out of the fridge.

“Really?” Stiles said, consciously not turning his gaze to where he knows Derek is still standing behind him in the kitchen. “The professional athlete is a dessert fan?”

“As long as I work it off, I can put whatever I want in my mouth.”

“ _Yeah_ you can.” Mason teases, elbowing Brett who almost drops the cheesecake trying to dodge it. “Derek can you get the ice-creams?” 

“Yeah, sure.” Derek does not touch Stiles as he moves past to access the freezer.

“Spoons and some serving things, Stiles?”

“On it.” He smiles at Mason and opens the cutlery drawer, listening to the banter between Mason and Brett continue as they exit the house.

The freezer door slams loudly and Stiles watches as Derek glances at him without smiling, and moves to exit the house. He doesn’t look angry, for which Stiles is grateful, just confused still and maybe even disappointed? At what, Stiles doesn’t know. Watching Derek’s fierce hold on the ice-cream tubs though, Stiles worries that he’s somehow made everything worse, despite his intentions for this conversation to fix things.

Although that had only been for him, he hadn’t really spent enough time thinking about how Derek would feel if he announced he knew about his sister. Oh god, Stiles has really put his foot in it. He feels a phantom hand across the back of his head and his mother’s voice exasperatedly saying _‘talk to him’_. Stiles always listens when his mother’s voice is in his head. It’s self-preservation.

He gathers the spoons quickly and shouts out to Derek just before he reaches the open door.

Stiles gets close, aware that if he speaks normally his voice will probably carry outside. 

“Can we talk later? Please.” Stiles whispers to Derek, holding his breath for the response, trying not to appear too desperate.

Derek seems to think it over, but his hands loosen on the tubs so Stiles knows he’s going to agree to it before he opens his mouth. “Okay. Hammocks tonight? 7pm?”

Stiles nods quickly, jumping on the chance to smooth things over with Derek. “Thanks.”

He follows Derek out and places the serving utensils onto the table, making his way around to deliver spoons to each person individually. When he gives one to Derek he gets a small smile and a ‘thank you’. Stiles returns to his seat happy and tucks in eagerly to the cheesecake.

Mason was right and there is far too much dessert, but between Stiles, the contestants and the crew, they wind up with barely anything left even after the massive lunch. The crew retire first, clearing away their own dishes and all offering parting remarks to the guys before they head upstairs. Lydia goes up last and stops longer by the table to remind everyone of tomorrow’s eliminations. Stiles tries not to fidget as he feels the eyes of the 8 contestants flick to him.

The reminder of eliminations is enough catalyst for an increase in personal conversation around the table and Stiles tries his best to stick to his goal for the day and pay attention to everyone, even though his eyes keep glancing over to catch Derek’s. He forgot to put on his watch this morning and is antsy to pull out his phone and check the time to see how close it is to 7. He doesn’t want to be rude though so resorts to sitting on his hands.

Eventually the guys start peeling off. Derek goes first which causes Stiles to feel both more and less nervous about their upcoming conversation. It does give him better focus though on the rest of the guys and he’s pretty much solidified his elimination list just 3 minutes after Derek has left.

When it’s just Stiles, Jackson and Garrett left, he finally gives in to the urge to check his phone. Aside from noticing a few new emails, Stiles immediately finds the timestamp in the top right hand corner. 5:52.

“Ah, sorry guys. I’ve got to get back upstairs.” Stiles stands somewhat awkwardly and lets the guys continue their argument. He was barely participating anyway. Something about college football teams.

An hour to swim in his thoughts about Derek and his sister is possibly too long for Stiles’ peace of mind, but he’d prefer to go into the conversation over-prepared than under-prepared. Also he hopes that by the time 7 o’clock rolls around Jackson and Garrett would have moved from outside. He doesn’t quite want the other guys to see him talking privately with Derek, in case they try to join in. Or get jealous. But selfishly it’s more the first reason.

Stiles runs – literally – into Allison as he rounds the top of the stairs.

“Ouch. God. Sorry Allison. Wasn’t paying attention.”

“No biggie.” Allison rubs her forehead. “Hey, how did you find the barbeque?”

“Yeah, it was good. Lots of fun. And I got to chat with everyone which was good for getting my mind set for eliminations tomorrow.”

“Ooh.” Allison’s eyes light up and she leans in to Stiles. “Have you got your list sorted yet?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“No moral quandaries you need to discuss with me this time?”

“No.” Stiles laughs and shrugs at Allison, beginning to walk backwards to his room. “I’m all set this time.”

“Good.” Allison continues on to wherever she was heading before Stiles bumped into her, and Stiles turns round and walks normally the rest of the way to his bedroom, easily making his way through the upstairs rumpus room where at least half the crew are stretched out on couches, lazy after the massive lunch.

Once in his room his shuts the door behind him and flops onto his bed with enough force to send one of his pillows flying. Stiles lets out a massive sigh and returns to this morning’s position of squashing a pillow to his face (obviously not the one that had been jettisoned to the floor).

-

Derek takes a deep breath before he leaves to go meet Stiles. He’s feeling... upset. Not in the sense that he’s sad, but more like whatever his normal emotional state is has gone somewhere he can’t trace.

Maybe it’s the fact he only had about 4 hours sleep this morning after talking to Laura. 

Derek knows it isn’t that. He’s used to long nights and strange sleep schedules, having adjusted to Laura’s needs since they’ve been living together. What’s really shaken him up is the fact that Stiles knows about her, because how could he?

Although he’s definitely talked about his family to Stiles, Derek swears he has kept Laura’s pregnancy far away from their conversations. After all, it was the driving reason he came onto this show – not Stiles. If Stiles finds out about that, Derek may lose all the progress they’ve made toward a relationship, and he... he _really_ doesn’t want that.

Isaac finds Derek standing in the corridor outside his room.

“Hey, Derek. Whatcha doing?”

Derek startles, having missed Isaac walking in from the main room.

“Nothing.”

“Yeah,” Isaac begins slowly, “that’s kind of why I was asking.”

Derek sighs and pushes off the wall. “Just thinking about things. I, uh... I actually might go outside for a bit. Get some fresh air.”

“Hmmm. This wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that Stiles is sitting outside would it?”

“How did you...”

“Doesn’t matter. Don’t worry though,” Isaac leans conspiratorially to Derek, “the others don’t know.”

“No, we’re not- I mean I wasn’t-”

“Derek.” Isaac interrupts, hand outstretched in a stop sign. “It’s okay. I know you and him have something going on.”

Derek sighs and leans back against the wall again. 

“Yes, well, what about you two? You’re always flirting with each other.”

“Well we are on a dating show, in case that escaped your notice.”

“Believe me, I am aware. So you and Stiles?”

“Ah, Derek. We’ve lost that lovin’ feeling.” Isaac sighs out forlornly, leaning back to thump against the wall.

“Sorry?”

“Jokes aside, it is true.”

“But I thought you guys got on really well.”

“I’m not saying we don’t. But whatever spark we had in those first few weeks – you know how fond I was of our banter – has just gone away.” Isaac shifts against the wall and pauses for a moment. “It’s like our flirting is inconsequential now, like when you’re mucking around with your friends. It doesn’t really have that underlying intent.”

Derek nods but can’t empathise. He’s never felt that way when talking to Stiles.

“But hey, I’ll settle for coming in second if you’re first place. You’d be quite a catch if I didn’t like them a little leaner and meaner.”

“Thanks.” Derek says uncertainly.

“No problem.” Isaac leans his head slyly.

“Well,” Isaac begins, mouth pouting down in faux-innocence, “now that I’ve effectively gotten into your head a little, you should probably go meet up with Stiles. He’s been sitting there for, like, 10 minutes now.”

“Ah, crap. Thanks. Or not. I... I’m not sure.”

“Just go Derek.” Isaac pushes him off toward the laundry room so he can slip outside without the others seeing him.

When Derek enters the hammock area, Stiles is stretched out in a hammock doing something on his phone. He takes a moment to just watch him, the long lines of his arms and legs, how he’s biting his lip slightly in concentration.

“Hey Stiles.”

Stiles fumbles his phone but doesn’t drop it, smiling openly at Derek. “Hey. You made it.”

“Of course.”

“Derek, I want to apologise to you.” Stiles begins before Derek has even settled himself into the opposite hammock. “Earlier today, I didn’t mean to spring that on you. It had just been on my mind all morning and then we were alone together and it just kind of spilled out. So I’m sorry.”

Derek looks over Stiles. He’s sitting upright in the hammock now, not making eye contact and fiddling with the case on his phone. As far as Derek can read from the parts of his face not hidden in shadow or behind his hair, he looks disappointed in himself. Derek’s inside squirm in protest of Stiles' mood. He wants to make that feeling go away.

“It’s fine, Stiles.”

“Really?” Stiles looks up at him, eyes wide and hopeful. Derek just nods. “Oh thank goodness. I really like you Derek and I didn’t want to ruin whatever it is that we’re building up to and I’ve just spent the past hour beating myself up over how stupid it was to basically confront you in the kitchen with something that’s probably really sensitive for you and it’s just, wow, such a relief to hear you say that.”

Derek just nods some more, letting Stiles catch his breath after that long-winded confession. 

“How did you find out about Laura anyway?”

“Laura is your older sister, yes?” Derek doesn’t know if Stiles is avoiding the question or simply trying to satisfy his need for knowledge.

“Yeah, she is. Cora is the younger one.”

“I could never remember. Laura. Cora. Too similar. It’ll probably help now that I have a visual.”

“And how do you have a visual.” Derek prompts. He doesn’t have the same thirst for knowledge that Stiles has, at least, not for knowledge outside of interests relevant to his career, but this particular question has been on his mind since the barbeque. The only time he’s ever talked to Laura outside of the privacy of his bedroom was last night, and Derek is certain he would have noticed if Stiles had been there.

Stiles has started blushing at the question and Derek can tell he’s going to be running his hands through his hair seconds before he actually does.

“Well, there is this room upstairs.”

“Sounds ominous.” Derek says before he thinks better of interrupting. “Sorry. Go on.”

It seems to have eased Stiles out of whatever nervous tension had been clamping onto his shoulders though and he huffs out and smiles mockingly at Derek.

“It is ominous. You have no idea.”

“Tell me then.”

Stiles sits up straight, hands clamped together in front of him. He looks good when he’s getting serious, but he hasn’t lost the mocking eyes either. Derek probably shouldn’t be encouraging Stiles’ competitiveness in their discussion but he can’t seem to help himself.

“There’s a room upstairs filled with nothing but screens showing every single nook and cranny of this house. I can watch you guys in the main room, the pool, out here, the gym.” He raises his eyes suggestively and Derek fights the urge to cross his arms over his chest which he is sure Stiles is implying he has seen one of the numerous times he’s been in the gym room working out.

“That is... not what I was expecting.” Derek hazards instead, and presses his hands under his thighs.

Stiles laughs out loud. “Me either. The crew kept the room this big secret since the start of the show but then this week I had to do these sessions where I just sat in there for an hour each day and watched you guys interact. It’s supposed to be about me learning who you are when you’re not around me, trying to impress me or whatever.”

“Well I suppose we both signed up for something like this, doing a reality TV show. They don’t seem to have many boundaries. I can’t say I’m not a little concerned though, and slightly embarrassed.”

“No reason for you to be.” Stiles offers kindly, with a surprisingly little amount of his earlier teasing.

“Thanks.” Derek ducks his head as he smiles. “I can understand why they do it though. It’s probably true that we all play up to you when you’re around.”

“You’ve been trying to impress me have you?” Stiles leans forwards in his hammock but the weight shift throws him off balance and he ends up sprawling out of the fabric and towards Derek. He stands up quickly to help catch Stiles, balancing him against his chest.

“Well,” Stiles blinks up and him from where his face is pressed somewhat uncomfortably against Derek’s collar bone, “this is not how I planned our next instance of physical contact to go.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Derek rights Stiles and lets go of his arms, but Stiles stays close to him, looking into his eyes. Derek looks back, trying to find the break in colour between Stiles’ iris and pupils.

Stiles eventually steps backwards and Derek shivers as a gust of cool air rushes across his chest. He does cross his arms now, watching Stiles sit back on his hammock and pull his legs up so he’s balanced cross-legged in the middle, hammock swingingly lazily forwards and backwards with leftover momentum.

Derek just stands there, tracking the movement, head filled with several dozen thoughts at once. Finding out about this room is in hindsight not surprising. The crew had been very clear from the beginning that they were able to film basically everywhere, all the time. What was it that Braeden had said? Something about _fair game 24/7 for us to use on the show._ Besides, Derek trusts that the crew aren’t going to do anything exploitative with the footage. What his brain is more concerned with is wondering what Stiles could have been imagining when he said he’d been thinking about physical contact between them. 

Has he been thinking of the smaller chances for contact? Fingers brushing over shoulders, knees knocking into thighs, a shoulder-check in the hallway, maybe even a high-five? Or maybe something bigger, like a proper hug... or another kiss.

Aside from their date night when there had been a pertinent amount of hugging, followed by their solitary kiss – and although he has most definitely thought about it – Derek hasn’t touched Stiles much at all. 

To be honest, he’s been trying very hard to do the opposite, worried that if he starts initiating physical touches between them it will slip too quickly into something more. Derek’s always used touch as a supplement to verbal communication – with family, friends and every person he’s ever been in a relationship with. He doesn’t want to get his body used to that kind of physical intimacy with Stiles in case everything goes to shit. 

After all, as much as he wished they had met under different circumstances, the two of them are part of something larger that they both need to respect: the show. There are still 7 other guys that Stiles needs to be giving consideration to as potential boyfriends, not just Derek. Even if Derek makes it through tomorrow’s elimination – he’s quietly confident that he will, but still worries anyway – there will still be 4 people left and almost an entire month of filming before Stiles can choose officially who the winner of the show is, who he wants to date outside the confines of this house. Who, maybe, he’s fallen in love with.

But that’s several steps too far, Derek thinks now, bringing himself back to the present and noticing the way his heart rate has picked up. He sits back down.

“I feel like this conversation has gotten away from us.” Stiles laments from his now still hammock. Derek must have been spacing out for a while.

“Yes. It seems to do that when I’m around you.” Stiles smiles like it’s a compliment. Derek supposes it is.

“You’re not mad are you? That I found out about Laura in a slightly illegitimate way.” Derek shakes his head because it’s the truth. Stiles smiles, relieved. “So how is she then? She looked pretty far along.”

“She is. Into her last trimester now.”

“That’s amazing.”

“Yeah.”

The two lapse into silence again, Derek remembering the way Laura’s stomach had pulsed at the baby kicked, and Laura’s responding tinkle of a laugh every time it happened. He's been missing her, more than he thought he would when he left for the show.

“Is there a big time difference where she lives? Is that why you were talking at 4 in the morning?”

“Uh, no. There’s not much of a difference.” Derek glances up at Stiles. He simply looks curious and half of Derek wants to tell him about Kyle, repay him in some way for opening up about his mother, let Stiles know Derek trusts him that deeply too. But another half of him worries that as close as he was to his brother-in-law, it’s not really his story to tell. 

Stiles is still waiting on Derek to continue so he sighs out and slowly words his sentence. “Laura was... upset. And she called me last night.”

“At 4 in the morning?”

“More like 3.” Derek smiles wryly. “The best way to comfort Laura is through touch but I thought Skype would come in second. I didn’t want to wake any of the guys though so I brought my laptop out to the rumpus room. I guess that’s why you could see us. What were you doing in that room at 4 in the morning?”

“Couldn’t sleep.” Stiles shrugs like it’s not a big deal and it probably isn’t normally, but Derek senses something a little off about the particular curve of his shoulder. He lets it be though.

“Maybe you should have an early night tonight then. We’ve got eliminations tomorrow morning.”

Stiles groans and flops backwards so he’s once again lying in his hammock. “Why are you being so reasonable?” It comes out muffled through his hands. “Maybe I just want to stay out here all night with you. I could probably sleep in this. It’s comfortable enough.”

“Stiles, your fingers are turning blue.”

“Oh, I guess they are.”

“Here, come on.” Derek gets up and makes his way over to Stiles' hammock. Stiles sits up and looks inquisitively at Derek. “Move over a little.”

Derek lowers himself down next to Stiles, trying to keep a bit of space between them. His efforts are futile because the hammock just tilts them toward each other anyway, so their sides are in contact all the way from shoulder to thigh.

Derek holds his hands out to Stiles and looks obviously at Stiles' own, cold hands. Stiles’ eyes widen slightly but then he’s laying his hands on top of Derek’s. Derek brings them together and starts rubbing gently, trying to bring the warmth back into Stiles' fingers with friction and his own body heat. Stiles sighs out a little and slumps, relaxing his hands further to Derek. 

It’s probably only a minute but Derek feels each second as longer. Eventually he stills his hands and just leaves them resting over Stiles' on top of his leg.

“Thanks. You’re very good at that.” Stiles whispers; they’re so close. He sits straighter and suddenly their bodies are aligned almost perfectly.

Stiles seems to realise this too and he leans deliberately closer, eyes locked on Derek and intentions abundantly clear.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” 

“I’m sure, Derek. Besides, the cameras didn’t get it last time.”

“Really?” Derek is surprised after the reveal of the room upstairs that his and Stiles’ kiss after their date could have somehow avoided being recorded.

“Really.” Stiles nods and his eyes drop down to Derek’s lips for an extended second.

“I’m always forgetting about the cameras.” Derek admits. “You... you make me feel like this isn’t just some show.”

Stiles eyes fill with some kind of emotion then and he smiles like he can’t help it. “Well, now we really do have to kiss.” And he leans in, ducking slightly to match the angle of Derek’s head.

Derek waits for their lips to meet before he closes his eyes and as soon as he does, he really does forget about the cameras all over again. How could he be thinking of anything else when Stiles’ lips and moving slowly but surely against his in a sweet kiss like a promise of things to come. Derek tightens his grip on Stiles’ still cold hands and Stiles flexes his fingers between them in response.

Stiles pulls away after a small brush of his tongue again Derek’s lips and Derek can’t keep from staring at Stiles’ lips when he pulls away, parted slightly and curling upwards in possibly the most private smile he’s seen on Stiles' face all competition.

Maybe Stiles was on the right track after all. They should just stay out here all night, curl up together in one of these hammocks and kiss some more.

“I probably should head inside now. I think parts of me other than my fingers are getting a bit too cold.”

Derek nods, wilfully ignoring the possible innuendo, but doesn’t let go of Stiles hands. Stiles breathes out a short laugh and then tugs his hands out of Derek’s grip, standing up and shoving them into the pocket of his hoodie.

“Thank you, Derek, for talking to me tonight. And just in case this whole evening hadn’t made it clear enough, you don’t need to worry about eliminations tomorrow. Goodnight.”

“’Night Stiles.”

Derek watches him take the path around to the front of the house then makes his own way in back through the laundry room. He feels like he’s discovered a lot tonight – Stiles finding out about Laura, the room upstairs, the way Stiles hand feels in his, that he’s safe from eliminations tomorrow – but his brain is just focusing on the feeling of hope, sparked in his chest the moment Stiles leaned in to kiss him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean to leave you all so long with that cliffhanger, but hopefully this chapter was all you wanted it to be!
> 
> Thanks again guys :)


	9. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens next.

The rest of the competition goes as expected. 

After the eliminations, nothing really changes. There are one-on-one dates, group outings, interview segments with Allison, and a couple of recorded Skype sessions with Scott and his parents. Stiles’ final four are Isaac, Derek, Jackson and Mason and while he does try and maintain equal enthusiasm for all the contestants, he reached the point where he was comfortable to admit to himself that Derek was going to be the one.

He mentioned it privately to Allison and she talked with Lydia about it and the filming time got cut back 2 weeks. He can’t feel bad about it because that meant the freedom to kiss Derek whenever he felt like was that much closer.

The final day is as spectacle-like as the show got with a different venue providing the backdrop for Stiles to choose his winner and everyone dressed up in suits. Derek, despite all of Stiles’ subtle reassurances, stood nervously on the end of the line and kept tugging at the end of his shirt sleeves while Stiles gave his final speech of the show. But the moment he called his name Derek smiled like he was the happiest man on earth, which Stiles could say was exactly how he himself was feeling.

No one said ‘you may now kiss the bride’ or anything but the implication was there and Derek, after wrapping Stiles in a smothering hug, pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. Stiles was having none of that though and pulled his face back for something a little more fiery. It was possibly not the ideal time to kiss Derek that passionately seeing as the whole thing was being recorded but when Stiles pulled back and Derek was staring at him, shocked but still smiling, with pink tinged cheeks, well, Stiles could say that he’d honestly forgotten about the cameras.

\- 

Isaac, Jackson and Mason moved out that night and Derek and Stiles the night after, leaving the crew behind to edit everything together ready for airing later.

The two spent their one night alone planning the logistics of their relationship outside of the house. They lived just under an hour drive away from each other which made everything a hell of a lot easier. Derek worked the typical 9-5 Monday to Friday hours so could only meet on weekends and Stiles, after all this time away, felt confident enough that the manager-in-training that he’d left in charge of the store these past months could handle taking over the store for the weekend so Stiles could meet up with Derek.

They alternated between Stiles’ and Derek’s hometowns and sometimes met up in the middle. There were also a lot of phone conversations and a few chats on Skype. A typical weekend for them would be meeting at one of their places to dump whatever stuff they’d brought up with them, then going out for the day and returning to cook dinner and do whatever they felt like. The day after they’d laze around in bed, talking and sleeping wrapped in each other’s arms.

Stiles insisted their first weekend together was at his house so Derek could finally meet his parents. His dad, thankfully, did not bring any firearms out, although brought up his job as sheriff near two dozen times by Stiles count (Derek reckons it was only 10). His mother on the other hand went overboard with embarrassing stories about Stiles and didn’t limit herself to just his childhood. Stiles went very pink but laughed along with everyone and Derek reassured him with a kiss to his temple.

Meeting Derek’s family the next week was slightly overwhelming. They were all very nice and welcoming and obviously approved of him (thank god) but there were just _so many people._ Stiles did chat with everyone, hand clutching Derek’s very tightly so he couldn’t escape and leave him at the mercy of some of the more invasive questions he was getting.

He did eventually end up alone with Laura and Cora which he thinks was extremely planned on their half because he was then subject to the most confusing speech of his life. It was part “you’re wonderful and Derek is more himself when you’re around, thank you”, and part some very detailed descriptions of his dismembering if he ever hurts Derek. Stiles responded earnestly because he could see Scott doing the exact same thing with Derek.

He in fact did so the next week when Stiles invited his friends over for a games night. Stiles knows because he accidently eavesdropped on their conversation, which is also the story of how the first time Derek said he loved Stiles, he didn’t actually say it _to_ Stiles. But later that night before they went to bed he did so all was good. And Stiles said it back.

When the time came for the show to air, Stiles invited everyone – his friends as well as Derek’s friends and family, and Jordan and Isaac – over to his parent’s house so his mother didn’t have to travel. They ordered a dozen pizzas and microwaved lots of popcorn and settled in to watch the special movie-length premiere which covered everyone arriving in the house and Stiles’ first meetings with them, plus his interview with Allison later and the guy's lists of 3 things they thought about him.

Stiles had managed to block out his embarrassing quip about Isaac being “sex-on-a-stick” and buried his face in Derek’s chest when it showed up on screen. But Isaac just laughed and agreed with Stiles’ assessment. Besides, he couldn’t really talk when they showed his list and Stiles could see that he’d written (then half crossed out) “fuckable” on it. It was his father’s turn to groan then and Stiles is certain he was taking that moment to be thankful Stiles and Isaac hadn’t gotten together because their relationship would have been built on sarcasm, sass and sexual innuendo.

After everyone leaves, Stiles mother gestures to the space beside her on the couch and pulls Stiles into a hug when he sits next to her.

“If I’d been there, I could have told you you’d choose Derek right from the start.”

“How?”

“The way you looked at him.”

-

In the car driving his parents back to the hotel they’re staying at, Derek has a similar conversation.

-

One year after Stiles and Derek finished filming the show, they get married. 

Derek had proposed after a dinner out at a nice restaurant. Stiles cried and wrapped his arms tightly around Derek. Derek laughed and sobbed as well.

Stiles’ mother is spending days at a time in the hospital by that stage so they decide to keep it local for her. They get married in a small church a few blocks away from his parent’s house and have the reception in their backyard. It’s small but the most amazing night Stiles could have hoped for. Derek and Stiles have their first dance as a married couple to Nina Simone’s _Here Comes the Sun_ and Derek effortlessly takes the lead as Stiles mainly stares into his eyes and hums along.

Derek was the one to invite the entire crew of the dating show along. It was meant to be a surprise but Scott – who by this time was officially dating Allison – let it slip. Stiles is happy to see them all regardless. Lydia surprises him by admitting she had been rooting for Stiles to choose Derek from the beginning. For a wedding gift, Danny and Kira give them raw footage of all Derek and Stiles’ interactions from the house. Danny also thanks Stiles for helping Ethan get over his hesitance to date him and they’re the first other couple to join them on the dance floor at the reception.

When Stiles isn’t dancing with Derek, or being congratulated by guests, he’s sitting at the table with Laura and her little girl, Alice. The baby is gorgeous and adorable and Stiles loves playing peek-a-boo with her and earning that screech-giggle she makes when he tickles her. Derek’s so good with her too and Stiles’ chest almost hurts from joy just watching him pick her up and rock her gently in a dance while Stiles twirls Laura around the dance floor.

Derek and Stiles spend the night after their wedding in the fanciest hotel in Beacon Hills then go to New Zealand for their honeymoon. Although the long plane ride is an absolute nightmare, it’s an amazing holiday. The go to art galleries, museums, drive up mountains and around lakes and bask in the beauty of the country. Stiles books them in for a tour of Hobbiton and Weta Workshops and Derek picks a few full day walking treks for them to do.

When they come back Derek moves officially into Stiles’ house – he’d been living their unofficially for months anyway – and the two start up their life as a married couple.

It’s sometimes a little strange to tell people that they met on a reality dating show. The statement is normally met with disbelief and Derek can’t blame them because after all, he didn’t go on the show to find love like Stiles had. (Stiles didn’t mind at all when he finally admitted that to him.) But when people see them together they tend to move on from their initial reaction quickly.

The show continues to be a success year after year, pushing more boundaries in its genre and getting more credibility as the years go on. Sometimes Lydia and the twins invite Stiles and Derek on the show for a guest segment with the current bachelor/bachelorette and both are happy to give back to the show because it gave them so much. It’s also a great excuse to catch up with the crew who they’ve kept in touch with. 

Claudia Stilinski ends up living twice as long as the doctor’s initially predicted 2 years and gets to meet her grandson Michael who Derek and Stiles adopt 2 years into their marriage. She pampers him uncontrollably but Stiles and Derek don’t stop her. Stiles struggles when she eventually passes, as does his dad, but Derek is a solid presence through his grief and Michael helps remind both of them of life’s joys. 

Michael thinks it’s hilarious when he goes to school that some of the other parents recognise Stiles and Derek from watching the show, and one sleepover Stiles comes downstairs at midnight to get a snack and sees Michael and his friends giggling at the DVD of his and Derek’s season of the show. The next morning Derek is confused by all the looks the boys give him as he makes everyone pancakes and when he looks over to Stiles for an explanation all he gets it’s a smile and a small eye roll. He figures it out when he cleans up the living room and finds the DVD still in the machine.

On anniversaries, Stiles and Derek leave Michael with his grandfather and reminisce, get tipsy with fancy wine and full of Derek’s infamous pizza, and invariably end up watching the DVD Danny and Kira gave them for their wedding all those years ago. A lot has changed for them since then, but the essence is still the same. Stiles loves Derek, and Derek loves Stiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big, _big_ thank you to everyone who took the time to read this.
> 
> I do apologise if this ending seemed a bit abrupt but it got to a point where I stopped having ideas for more events in their storyline. I was loathe to leave the story unfinished though, hence this recount-like final chapter.
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed it.
> 
> Comments and kudos welcome! Or come say hi on [tumblr](http://www.whatthehellisahoechlin.tumblr.com).


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